As part of its new policy, FINA voted on Sunday to restrict transgender athletes’ participation in elite women’s competitions and to form a working group to establish a ‘open’ category for them in some events.
Transgender rights have become a major topic of discussion as sports strive to strike a balance between inclusivity and preventing unfair advantage.
The debate heated up after University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas won the women’s 500-yard freestyle earlier this year, becoming the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history.
Thomas has expressed a desire to compete in the Olympics, but the new FINA rule would prevent her from doing so.
FINA’s decision, the most stringent of any Olympic sports governing body, was made during its extraordinary general congress after members heard a report from a transgender task force comprised of leading medical, legal, and sports figures.
According to FINA’s new eligibility policy, male-to-female transgender athletes can 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.’
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