(AP) – After months of studies and debate, the International Olympic Committee has agreed to allow transsexual athletes to compete at this summer’s Olympics in Greece.

The IOC executive board said in a statement that athletes who have undergone sexual reassignment surgery will be eligible for the Olympics if their new sex has been legally recognized in their home country and if they have gone through a minimum two-year period of postoperative hormone therapy.

The issue of trans athletes was first presented to the board last November, but in February it was shelved when committee members could not come to terms with the implications hormone therapy might have on athletic ability and whether male-to-female transsexual athletes could have an unfair advantage.

In light of new medical evidence, the board voted to open the games to transsexual athletes. The decision covers both male-to-female and female-to-male competitors.

After questions were raised about the sex of some Soviet athletes competing as women in the 1980s and ’90s, gender verification tests were conducted on all Olympic athletes. The practice was abandoned shortly before the 2000 Sydney Games.

The number of transsexual athletes of international caliber is relatively small, but growing.

In the 1970s, Renee Richards played on the women’s tennis tour. Last month, Australia’s Mianne Bagger became the first transsexual to play in a pro golf tournament.

Canada’s Michelle Dumaresq has made a name for herself competing as a mountain bike racer. Dumaresq had sexual reassignment surgery in 1996 and competed for Canada at last year’s World Championships in Austria. She finished 24th in the downhill discipline.