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Swimming’s historic ban on transgender athletes
Swimming’s world Governing body, Fina, will ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s elite races
The new policy passed with 71% of the vote from 152 Fina members and was announced at the Extraordinary Congress 2022 in Budapest.
The new ban applies to athletes who have gone through any stage of male puberty.
This means if transgender athletes want to compete then they must have transitioned by the age of 12.
The sporting body will now work on creating an ‘open’ category for transgender athletes, with a team working on this immediately.
Fina’s President Husain Al-Musallam says they’re working to “protect the rights of athletes to compete” but also “protect competitive fairness”.
“Fina will always welcome every athlete. The creation of an open category will mean that everybody has the opportunity to compete at an elite level. This has not been done before, so Fina will need to lead the way. I want all athletes to feel included in being able to develop ideas during this process.”
Fina’s President Husain Al-Musallam
Fina’s Executive Director Brent Nowicki says the policy is “comprehensive, science-based, and inclusive, and, importantly, Fina’s approach emphasised competitive fairness.”
Transgender participation has been a contentious topic in all sports around the world. Most recently, American swimmer Lia Thomas’ participation divided communities.
Thomas has consistently expressed a desire to compete but this new policy will block Thomas from participating in the female category.
While some say Transgender participation is unfair for competing athletes, others argue it’s discrimination to not let transgender athletes compete in women’s events.
For now, this new policy stands as the most historic rule and regulation on transgender participation.