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Transgender rights has become a major talking point as sports
seek to balance inclusivity while ensuring there is no unfair
advantage.
The debate intensified after University of Pennsylvania swimmer
Lia Thomas became the first transgender NCAA champion in
Division I history after winning the women's 500-yard freestyle
earlier this year.
Thomas has expressed a desire to compete for a place at the
Olympics but the new FINA rule would block her participation.
FINA's decision, the strictest by any Olympic sports body, was
made during its extraordinary general congress after members
heard a report from a transgender task force comprising leading
medical, legal and sports figures.
The new eligibility policy for FINA competitions states that
male-to-female transgender athletes are eligible to compete only
if "they can establish to FINA’s comfortable satisfaction that
they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner
Stage 2 (of puberty) or before age 12, whichever is later".
The policy was passed with a roughly 71% majority after it was
put to the members of 152 national federations with voting
rights who had gathered for the congress at the Puskas Arena.
“We have to protect the rights of our athletes to compete, but
we also have to protect competitive fairness at our events,
especially the women’s category at FINA competitions," said FINA
President Husain Al-Musallam.
“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.”
The new FINA policy also opens up eligibility to those who have
"complete androgen insensitivity and therefore could not
experience male puberty".
Swimmers who have had "male puberty suppressed beginning at
Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later, and they
have since continuously maintained their testosterone levels in
serum (or plasma) below 2.5 nmol/L." are also allowed to compete
in women's races.
HIGHLY DIVISIVE
Female-to-male transgender athletes (transgender men) are fully
eligible to compete in men's swimming competitions.
The issue of transgender inclusion in sport is highly divisive,
particularly in the United States where it has become a weapon
in a so-called "culture war" between conservatives and
progressives.
Advocates for transgender inclusion argue that not enough
studies have yet been done on the impact of transition on
physical performance, and that elite athletes are often physical
outliers in any case.
The International Olympic Committee issued a 'framework' on the
issue, leaving eligibility decisions up to individual sports
bodies, but adding that "until evidence determines otherwise,
athletes should not be deemed to have an unfair or
disproportionate competitive advantage due to their sex
variations, physical appearance and/or transgender status".
Athlete Ally, an advocacy group for LGBTQI+ people in sport,
condemned FINA's decision.
"FINA’s new eligibility criteria for transgender athletes and
athletes with intersex variations is discriminatory, harmful,
unscientific and not in line with the 2021 IOC principles. If we
truly want to protect women’s sports, we must include all
women," they said in a post on twitter.
Former swimmer Sharron Davies, who won Olympic silver at the
1980 Games and has been a vocal campaigner for a more
restrictive policy, welcomed the decision.
"I can’t tell you how proud I am of my sport, FINA and the FINA
president for doing the science, asking the athletes/coaches and
standing up for fair sport for females. Swimming will always
welcome everyone no matter how you identify but fairness is the
cornerstone of sport."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Writing by Simon
Evans; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, Hugh Lawson and Toby Davis)
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