The new gender mainstreaming policy, which is due to take effect on June 20, 2022, states that transgender female-to-female athletes will only be eligible to compete in the FINA Games if they reach the age of 12 or before reach the second stage of adolescence on the Tanner scale.
The policy also states that athletes who have previously used testosterone as part of female-to-male sex reassignment hormone therapy will only be eligible to compete in women’s races only if testosterone has been used for less than a year overall. adolescence and serum testosterone levels return to pre-treatment levels.
As a result of the vote, FINA said it would set up a new working group to develop open-air events for athletes who do not meet the governing body’s eligibility criteria for men or women.
FINA oversees water sports in swimming, water polo, diving, figure skating and offshore swimming and diving.
“We must protect the rights of our athletes to compete, but we must also protect competitive justice in our competitions, especially the women’s category in FINA competitions,” said FINA President Hussein al-Moussalam. “FINA will always welcome every athlete. Creating an open class will mean that everyone has the opportunity to compete at the elite level. This has not been done in the past, so FINA should lead. I want all athletes to feel included in the ability to develop ideas during this process “.
In November 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued its Framework for Justice, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination Based on Gender Identity and Gender Variations, saying that no athlete should be excluded from competing with taking advantage because of his gender. and rejected the idea that one testosterone agent was enough to exclude her from the women category.
Several months later, in January 2022, the International Federation of Sports Medicine and the European Federation of Sports Associations issued a joint statement challenging parts of the ILO’s position.
FINA says it responded by forming a working group to “review the best available statistics, scientific and medical data on gender differences in athletic performance and any relevant advantage based on male gender” and use the information to determine eligibility criteria for trans athletes.
The working group consisted of a team of athletes, which according to FINA included trans athletes and coaches, a team of science and medicine as well as a team of legal and human rights.
The discussion about trans women in swimming came to the fore when the University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who started in the school’s men’s swimming team in 2017, finally joined the UPenn women’s team in 2020.
In its transition to 2019, the NCAA asked trans athletes to have one year of hormone replacement therapy to be approved to compete.
In February, 16 members of the University of Pennsylvania’s swimming team sent a letter to the university and the Ivy League urging them not to challenge NCAA trans athlete policies that would prevent Thomas and other trans athletes from competing. In the letter, they claimed that Thomas had an “unfair advantage” and said that they supported the transfer of her gender out of the group, but not necessarily to her.
Despite the reactions, Penn Athletics and the Ivy League maintained their support for the trans swimmer and over 300 current and former swimmers signed their names in an open letter defending her ability to compete.
As a women’s team swimmer, Thomas became the first trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I title after winning the 500-yard freestyle in March.
