Swimming Federation to Set up ‘Open Category’ for Transgender Athletes

Rabat – The International Swimming Federation (FINA) approved a new “gender inclusion” policy on Sunday aimed at allowing male-to-female transgender athletes who transitioned before the age of 12 to compete in women’s categories.

More than 71% of FINA members voted in favor of the new policy, which is set to go into effect today.

According to the new policy, swimmers can compete in women’s races if they 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.”

The decision was taken during FINA’s extraordinary general congress 2022.

“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,” FINA president Husain Al-Musallam said in a statement.

FINA also pledged to establish a working group to set up new “open category” events for athletes that do not meet the federation’s eligibility criteria for men’s or women’s categories.

“I do not want any athlete to be told they cannot compete at the highest level,” Al-Musallam added, noting that this step is a first and will ensure that “everyone has the opportunity to compete at an elite level.”

‘A big ask’

The decision drew criticism from some members of the FINA medical committee, especially since the male competition would be open to all.

David Gerrard from the medical committee stressed, “To ask or expect an 11, 12 year old boy to make a decision that will effect the rest of his life is a big ask.”

On twitter, netizens have expressed different opinions regarding the ban of transgender swimmers from women’s events as well as potentially encouraging transition of children before the age of 12 to avoid male puberty.

Retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete and transgender Caitlyn Jenner appeared to be in favor of FINA’s decision, tweeting, “It worked! I took a lot of heat – but what’s fair is fair! If you go through male puberty you should not be able to take medals away from females.”

Meanwhile, another Twitter user said that “FINA has chosen to disregard science and bow to political pressure brought about by vicious anti-trans propaganda.” The commenter emphasized: “No young trans woman would meet this criteria without access to proper health care, which, itself, is being banned in many places.”

FINA currently oversees competition in six aquatics sports: swimming, diving, high diving, artistic swimming, water polo, and open water swimming.

In 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released a framework on “fairness, inclusion, and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations,” where it stated that all athletes should be able to have a safe and welcoming environment as well as to participate in fair competitions.