FINA Set to Announce Transgender-Participation Guidelines

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FINA Set to Announce Transgender-Participation Guidelines

On Sunday, following a vote at the World Championships in Budapest, FINA is expected to reveal its transgender-participation guidelines. For several months, the international governing body for aquatic sports has been working with national federations, including USA Swimming, to design competition standards for transgender athletes.

The need for these guidelines was driven by the emergence of Lia Thomas as a major factor in NCAA swimming. A former member of the men’s squad at the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas transitioned to female and became a member of the university’s women’s team as a senior. While Thomas met 10-year-old guidelines to participate in women’s competition, her presence triggered significant controversy, the main argument stating that her male-puberty advantage provided an unfair edge over biological women.

Thomas was one of the most dominant athletes on the NCAA women’s scene, with her senior campaign highlighted by an NCAA championship in the 500-yard freestyle. Her presence ignited intense debate between those fighting for fairness and the protection of women’s rights and those seeking equal treatment for the transgender community. Thomas also advanced to the final of the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle at the NCAA Champs.

It was a matter of time before FINA acted on the debate, and the governing body will soon make its announcement. It is expected that the threshold for transgender inclusion will be challenging to meet, as FINA has discussed the issue closely with USA Swimming, among other national federations. USA Swimming’s guidelines for transgender participation require athletes to possess a testosterone level of less than 5 nmol/L for 36 months.

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John Smith
John Smith
1 year ago

“Thomas was one of the most dominant athletes on the NCAA women’s scene.” That’s a stretch considering she barely won the 500 and there were multi event winners. Whatever FINA decides, if Lia chooses to swim and follows the guidelines set forth by FINA then she should be allowed to compete.

Swimmerswammer
Swimmerswammer
1 year ago
Reply to  John Smith

Watch the race and see the difference in the underwaters off the wall compared to the swimmers Lia was swimming against. If Lia used her underwaters she would have had a waaaaaay larger margin. As a swimmer of that caliber they have better underwaters than that.

Shannon
Shannon
1 year ago
Reply to  John Smith

Nope, not a woman.

Billy
Billy
1 year ago

Chromosome tests! XX females vs XX females and XY males versus XY males. Simple solution, Lia swims against the men because she’s a man that pretends she is a woman. She ruined the 2022 NCAA women’s championship. The sport does not need garbage like this…..

Anon
Anon
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy

If it were only that simple. By far, most of the time it works that way, but biology is pretty complicated. Try googling “What your science teacher told you about sex chromosomes is wrong” or do a deep dive into the subject for the scientific nuances.

Annie
Annie
1 year ago
Reply to  Billy

i absolutely agree with this statement having a swimmer in high school . These girls have enough competition with each other .
We all forgot about Chromsomes! And that would be the fairness is this all .Brillant thing to say .
XX females vs XX females and XY males versus XY males. 

Moffy
Moffy
1 year ago

Follow the science… of biology. Any anatomy book will explain the difference between male and female and it’s not ALL about hormones

John fuller
John fuller
1 year ago

USA Swimming decision is a travesty! All biological female athletes should rise up and make their voices heard!

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