Swimming’s world governing physique accredited the brand new “gender inclusion” coverage on Sunday, after 71.5% of FINA’s member federations voted in assist on the FINA Extraordinary Normal Congress 2022.
The brand new gender inclusion coverage, which is ready to enter impact on June 20, 2022, says that male-to-female transgender athletes will solely be eligible to compete within the ladies’s classes in FINA competitions in the event that they transition earlier than the age of 12 or earlier than they attain stage two on the puberty Tanner Scale.
The coverage additionally says athletes who’ve beforehand used testosterone as a part of female-to-male gender-affirming hormone therapy will solely be eligible to compete in ladies’s competitions if the testosterone was used for lower than a 12 months in complete, the therapy did not happen throughout puberty and testosterone ranges in serum are again to pre-treatment ranges.
Because of the vote, FINA mentioned it’s going to set up a brand new working group with a purpose to develop open class occasions for athletes that don’t meet the governing physique’s eligibility standards for males’s or ladies’s classes.
FINA oversees aquatic competitions in swimming, water polo, diving, creative swimming and open water swimming and excessive diving.
“Now we have to guard the rights of our athletes to compete, however we even have to guard aggressive equity at our occasions, particularly the ladies’s class at FINA competitions,” FINA President Husain Al-Musallam mentioned. “FINA will at all times welcome each athlete. The creation of an open class will imply that everyone has the chance to compete at an elite degree. This has not been finished earlier than, so FINA might want to paved the way. I need all athletes to really feel included in with the ability to develop concepts throughout this course of.”
A number of months later, in January 2022, the Worldwide Federation of Sports activities Medication and the European Federation of Sports activities Medication Associations issued a joint place assertion disputing components of the IOC’s place.
FINA says it responded by forming a working group to “contemplate the perfect out there statistical, scientific, and medical proof regarding intercourse variations in sports activities efficiency, and any related male sex-based benefit,” and use the data to ascertain eligibility standards for transgender athletes.
The working group was comprised of an athlete group, which FINA says included transgender athletes and coaches, a science and medication group in addition to a authorized and human rights group.
On the time of her transition in 2019, the NCAA required that transgender athletes have one 12 months of hormone substitute remedy to be cleared to compete.
Regardless of the backlash, Penn Athletics and the Ivy League maintained their assist for the transgender swimmer, and over 300 present and former swimmers signed their names to an open letter defending her means to compete.
