Historic change made for transgender swimmers
The swimming world will be the first sport to allow transgender athletes to compete at an elite level separate to men’s and women’s competitions, after the International Swimming Federation (FINA)’s president Husain Al-Mussallam announced the new category on Monday.
“I do not want any athlete to be told they cannot compete at the highest level,” Mr Al-Mussallam told the FINA Extraordinary Congress in Budapest, Hungary, per news.com.au.
“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.”
Mr Al-Mussallam announced the change after FINA unveiled an inclusivity policy which was then approved by members.
Brent Nowicki, the CEO of FINA, said the organisation was determined to maintain separate competitions for men and women.
“(FINA) recognises that certain individuals may not be able to compete in the category that best aligns with their legal gender alignment or gender identity,” he added.
Mr Nowicki explained that under the rules, the male competition would be open to everyone. However, “male-to-female” and intersex athletes would only be allowed to compete in the women’s competition or set a world record “if they can prove they have not experienced any element of male puberty”.
This prompted immediate backlash from some sections of the swimming world, with Dr Christer Magnusson, a member of FINA’s medical committee, among those complaining that it implied that boys as young as 10 would have to decide to start transitioning to compete as female athletes.
David Gerrard, a fellow member of the medical committee and an Emeritus Professor at the University of Otago, New Zealand, also criticised the policy.
“To ask or expect an 11, 12-year-old boy to make a decision that will affect the rest of his life is a big ask,” Professor Gerrard said.
Others were more receptive to the decision. American swimmer Alex Walsh cautiously welcomed it after she won the women’s 200m medley at the world championships on Monday morning.
“I’m happy that FINA are … re-evaluating the rules,” she said.
“I am not really sure what the answer is to keep things fair but obviously I hope that everyone is able to compete and as long as they are finding a way to do that then I am happy.”
FINA’s decision and policy come after the International Olympic Committee asked sports federations to create their own “sport-specific” rules about transgender athletes last year.
FINA created three committees - one legal, one medical, and one of athletes - to consider the issue, with the medical committee finding that transgender women retained some advantages from being assigned male at birth.
“Some of the advantages males acquire in puberty are structural and are not lost with hormone suppression,” said Dr Sandra Hunter of Milwaukee’s Marquette University.
“These include larger lungs and hearts, longer bones, bigger feet and hands.”
Meanwhile, the legal experts found that the policy of excluding most transgender swimmers would be legal.
“(It is) necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate objective,” London-based barrister James Drake said.
The new gender inclusion policy will come into effect on June 20, 2022, according to the FINA website.
Image: @fina1908 (Instagram)