What Is the Order of Ikkos? Trump Awarded Rare Olympic Honour During Women's History Month Event

Donald Trump was awarded a rare Order of Ikkos medal at the White House on 12 March, after US bobsled star Kaillie Humphries used a Women's History Month event to honour the president for what she described as his support for female athletes and fertility treatment. Humphries had returned from the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, where she won bronze in both the women's monobob and the two-woman bobsled for Team USA.

A naturalised American who previously competed for Canada, Humphries is one of the sport's dominant figures. Her decision to use a White House podium to honour a president who has made women's sport and reproductive policy central to his political agenda ensured the gesture would carry political weight beyond the ceremony itself.

Why the Order of Ikkos, and Donald Trump, Matter Here

The Order of Ikkos is not a ceremonial award handed out by committee. Each Team USA medallist is given just one medal to bestow, usually on a coach, mentor, or figure they believe was instrumental in their Olympic journey. Humphries was effectively giving away a token, symbolically linked to her own training, sacrifice, and results. She told the audience she was doing so because of Trump's policies and his stance on women's sport.

Her clearest justification focused on Trump's position on transgender athletes. Humphries said the president had stood firm to keep 'biological women in women's sports,' arguing that this protected safety and ensured 'fair competition.' She also framed the tribute around how the White House had chosen to define who counts as a woman in elite competition.

In practice, however, transgender participation at the top levels of American sport remains extremely small. In December 2024, NCAA President Charlie Baker told a Senate panel that fewer than ten transgender athletes currently compete in college sports. Baker, who has served as NCAA president since 2023 and who formerly served as Republican governor of Massachusetts, did not specify whether that figure includes transgender men.

The exchange during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing laid the scale of the issue bare. 'How many athletes are there in the U.S. in NCAA schools?' Sen Dick Durbin asked Baker. 'Five hundred and ten thousand,' Baker replied. Durbin then asked: 'How many transgender athletes are you aware of?' Baker answered: 'Less than 10.'

Donald Trump, IVF, and a Medal With Strings Attached

Humphries also tied her tribute to Trump's agenda on in-vitro fertilisation, drawing on her own two-and-a-half-year experience of fertility treatment before becoming a mother in 2024. She thanked Trump for executive moves aimed at widening access to IVF, linking her personal story to his policy record.

Trump responded by describing himself as the 'fertilisation president,' positioning himself as a champion of women seeking fertility treatment. The comment drew applause in the East Room, but the administration's record on the issue is more complex than the moment suggested.

The administration did adopt executive measures to lower IVF costs and expand employer coverage options. Those measures, however, fell short of Trump's 2024 campaign pledge to make IVF free for all Americans through government funding or insurance mandates. KFF, a non-profit health policy research organisation, argued that while the steps were welcome, they did not constitute equal access to treatment across income and geography.