Even if they went through male puberty, elite swimming is the first sport to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s races.
FINA, the world swimming body, is establishing a ‘open category,’ which will allow transgender athletes to participate in their own category.
Transgender swimmers like Lia Thomas, who competes in the women’s division in swim meets, have shattered women’s records and sparked controversy, with many claiming she has an unfair physical edge over her peers.
After hearing a report from a transgender task force comprised of top medical, legal, and sports authorities, FINA’s extraordinary general assembly on the fringes of the world championships in Budapest reached the decision.
Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies MBE, who has spoken out against transgender swimmers in women’s races and fought for equality and fairness in sport, tweeted about FINA’s announcement.
She wrote: ‘I can’t tell you how proud I am of my sport @fina & @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.’
Her tweet was in response to her own post from Friday, which read: ‘Once a male has gone through puberty there will always be a large retained performance advantage & bone structure.
‘Why are we asking females to accept competing with a known disadvantage before we even start? Females are not men with less testosterone. Compete with your sex.’
Davies lost out on gold in the 1980 Moscow Olympics to East German swimmer Petra Schneider, who was later pinged for doping with performance enhancing drugs, including testosterone.
Husain Al-Musallam, president of FINA, announced the news on Sunday afternoon.
‘I do not want any athlete to be told they cannot compete at the highest level,’ Al-Musallam told a congress of his organization today.
‘I will set up a working group to set up an open category at our meets.
‘We will be the first federation to do that.’
Transgender competitors will be required to complete their transition by the age of 12 in order to compete in women’s contests under the new rules.
After being presented to members of 152 national federations with voting rights who had convened for the congress in the Puskas Arena, the policy was passed with a 71 percent majority.
In the men’s and women’s competition divisions, about 15% voted against the policy on eligibility, while 13% abstained.
As sports seek to strike a balance between diversity and ensuring that no one has an unfair edge, transgender rights have become a hot topic.
After winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle at the University of Pennsylvania earlier this year, Lia Thomas became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history.
Thomas swam for three seasons for the Pennsylvanian men’s team before beginning hormone replacement treatment in the spring of 2019.
Lia Thomas and other trans female athletes, according to a wave of doctors, would always have an unfair advantage in various sports because they can’t reverse adolescence, when their biological male bodies were inundated with testosterone.
Last month, Thomas said that some ‘cisgender’ women, who have the same gender identity as their assigned gender, have more testosterone, bigger hands and feet, and are taller than their opponents – so why should she be barred when they aren’t?
‘I don’t need anybody’s permission to be myself,’ she said.
She also said anyone who says she isn’t allowed to compete as a woman is transphobic, regardless of whether or not they support her right to transition.
‘You can’t go halfway and be like “I support trans people but only to a certain point.”
‘If you support transwomen and they’ve met all the NCAA requirements, I don’t know if you can say something like that.’
‘Trans women are not a threat to women’s sport.’
In response to Sharron Davies’ tweet celebrating the news, many shared the same view. One wrote: ‘Finally someone in sport has some commons sense. Now other sports have to follow this example.’
Another said: ‘It should be in all amateur sports as well, not just elite sports,’ and one other similarly added: ‘Now for the other sporting governing bodies.’
Sports scientist Ross Tucker tweeted: ‘Thank you FINA for listening to women, your own swimmers and coaches, and to science in creating a policy that respects women’s sport.’