World Swimming bans transgender athletes from women's competitions

Swimming federation FINA has decided to no longer allow trans people to participate in women's competitions. Only people who started their transition before the age of 12 are welcome. At the same time, work is also underway on an "open competition", in which trans people would be allowed to participate.
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71.5 percent of the swimming federations represented in World Swimming Federation FINA voted in favour of the proposal.

Only people who started the transition before the age of twelve are allowed to participate. According to the swimming federation, it has been scientifically proven that the advantage that transgender women who transitioned before then have in terms of sport is small. "This is not to say that people are encouraged to start the transition at the age of 12," said a spokesman for FINA President Hussein Al-Musallam.

Critics accuse the swimming federation of being "discriminatory". Anne Lieberman of Athlete Ally, an LGBT+ sports organization, tells the AP news agency that the measures of the FINA are stricter than those of the International Olympic Committee. The FINA emphasizes that it wants to keep swimming "fair" with the new measures. The newly proposed open competition would be part of this, but exactly how it will take shape is still uncertain. A working group must first get to work on this.

 

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