New FINA policy effectively bans transgender athletes from competing in women’s swimming events

World aquatics body FINA has agreed new policies that will effectively prevent transgender athletes from competing in women’s events.

Meeting on Sunday in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, 71.5% of more than 190 FINA members voted in favour of a new ‘gender inclusion policy’ that will only permit swimmers who transitioned before the age of 12 to compete in women’s events.

While there are currently no transgender women competing in elite levels of swimming, the new 24-page policy, effective from today (Monday 20th June), explains new rules covering transgender men and women will be allowed to compete under the new rules.

The vote, at a FINA extraordinary general congress, was taken after hearing presentations from three specialist groups - an athlete group, a science and medicine group and a legal and human rights group - that had been working together to form the policy following recommendations given by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last November.

The IOC urged shifting the focus from individual testosterone levels and calling for evidence to prove when a performance advantage existed.

In addition to the age ruling, FINA advised that it is looking at a new ‘open competition policy’, setting up "a new working group that will spend the next six months looking at the most effective ways to set up this new category."

This will likely include new open events for transgender athletes.

In a statement, FINA President, Husain Al-Musallam advised “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 will always welcome every athlete. The creation of an open category will mean that everybody has the opportunity to compete at an elite level. This has not been done before, so FINA will need to lead the way. I want all athletes to feel included in being able to develop ideas during this process."

Further explaining the new policy, James Pearce, spokesperson for Al-Musallam, told The Associated Press, "this is not saying that people are encouraged to transition by the age of 12. It’s what the scientists are saying, that if you transition after the start of puberty, you have an advantage, which is unfair.

"They’re not saying everyone should transition by age 11, that’s ridiculous. You can’t transition by that age in most countries and hopefully you wouldn’t be encouraged to. Basically, what they’re saying is that it is not feasible for people who have transitioned to compete without having an advantage."

Commenting on open events for transgender swimmers, Pearce added “no one quite knows how this is going to work. And we need to include a lot of different people, including transgender athletes, to work out how it would work.

“So there are no details of how that would work. The open category is something that will start being discussed tomorrow.”

FINA went on to say that transgender men are eligible to compete in FINA competitions and set world records in the men’s category unless “for the disciplines of Water Polo and High Diving, the athlete must provide to FINA an assumption of risk form signed and dated by the athlete or if the athlete is a minor, by their legal proxy" or "All athletes who are undergoing treatment involving testosterone or other anabolic substances as part of female-to-male genderaffirming hormone treatment are required to obtain a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for that treatment in accordance with the FINA Doping Control Rules."

Criticising the new policy, Anne Lieberman of Athlete Ally, a non-profit that advocates for LGBTQ athletes, said in a statement that it is "deeply discriminatory, harmful (and) unscientific (and) not in line with (the IOC’s) framework on fairness, inclusion and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations.”

Lieberman added “the eligibility criteria for the women’s category as it is laid out in the policy (will) police the bodies of all women, and will not be enforceable without seriously violating the privacy and human rights of any athlete looking to compete in the women’s category.”

Last week, the International Cycling Union (UCI) updated its eligibility rules for transgender athletes with stricter limits that will force riders to wait longer before they can compete.

The FINA Congress also had Swimming Australia Chief Executive Eugénie Buckley providing an update on the upcoming 16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) set to take place in Melbourne from 13th to 18th December 2022.

Click here to view the policy.

Image credit: Shutterstock.