Commentary: FINA Transgender Policy Indicates Respect For Women’s Sports and Fairness in Competition

FINA Transgender Policy Indicates Respect For Women’s Sports and Fairness

For the past week, FINA has operated the latest edition of the World Championship, Budapest serving as host to many of the premier swimmers on the planet. There have been plenty of intriguing storylines, from the continued excellence of Katie Ledecky to the withdrawal of Caeleb Dressel due to a medical concern. Solo world records have been supplied by Hungarian Kristof Milak (200 butterfly) and Italian Thomas Ceccon (100 backstroke).

Outside of the pool, FINA hosted an equally important meeting, an Extraordinary General Congress. The main issue: How the organization would handle the topic of transgender participation in the sport. More to the point, how would the governing body address the participation of transgender females, whose biological advantages from male puberty ran the risk of altering the landscape of women’s swimming.

Although transgender participation in sports has been a topic for several years, the issue became a hot-button controversy over the past six months. It was during that time in which Lia Thomas emerged as a standout for the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the men’s squad at Penn for three years, Thomas followed all NCAA rules and was permitted to race as a member of the women’s squad for her senior year.

Immediately, though, it was obvious that Thomas held significant advantages over the competition, these edges provided by male puberty. She took these advantages and parlayed them into an NCAA championship in the 500-yard freestyle, along with finals appearances in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle. More, her presence triggered intense debate between groups seeking inclusion for transgender females and those looking for fairness in competition.

Eventually, FINA would weigh in on the controversy and make a ruling. That day was Sunday, when the organization’s membership voted heavily in favor of a guidelines that state that any transgender female desiring to compete in the female category could not have gone through male puberty.

Complete FINA Guidelines

What did FINA say with its ruling? That’s simple. It indicated that it values female competition and recognizes the distinct physical differences between males and females. It recognized that height, strength, lung capacity, hand and foot size, among other factors, make a difference in competition. FINA, through its membership, made a call for fairness.

“Because of the performance gap that emerges at puberty between biological males as a group and biological females as a group, separate sex competition is necessary for the attainment of these objectives,” FINA wrote in the introduction to its transgender guidelines. “Without eligibility standards based on biological sex or sex-linked traits, we are very unlikely to see biological females in finals, on podiums, or in championship positions; and in sports and events involving collisions and projectiles, biological female athletes would be at greater risk of injury.”

In putting this debate to a vote, FINA took care in addressing the topic. It provided input from scientists, transgender activists and athletes. It did not rush to a judgement, but took several months to investigate the matter and thoroughly examine all angles. And, on a global stage, it conducted a vote that could be a spark for other sports in their pursuit of fairness, and the guarantee that female athletes are offered a level playing field and respected.

The FINA decision, too, took into account transgender females, as the governing body has pledged to offer future competitive categories for those athletes. They will not be left on the outside, but will be given the chance to put their skills to a test. However, these chances will not come at the expense of biological females.

The highlight of this week, we can hope, will be what the athletes do in the water at the Duna Arena, which is serving as the host of the World Champs for the second time in five years. But this week will also be remembered for how FINA implemented critical guidelines on transgender participation, and placed an importance on female sports.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Nathan

1 year ago

Well, that just set a precedent.

Sara MacKay

1 year ago

Thank you FINA

Jon Pike

1 year ago

Good policy, and thanks John, for your journalism and understanding of this issue. I hope that this does set a precedent, and spreads through global sport. For what it’s worth (which is very little indeed) I’ll remember that swimming got it right, early on, and that you and this site played a big part in that

Diane

1 year ago

Thank you FINA for standing up for fairness in Women’s Sport. No male however he identifies should be permitted to compete in any female sports competitions. And thank you @Marta World for your excellent coverage regarding the issue of males competing in female sports. Point to note @Marta World I have really enjoyed your fair and balanced coverage of this issue over the last few months and regularly share your articles via social media. In this instance, I feel I cannot as this article misrepresents transgender females. Transmen are those of the female sex who id as men. Transwomen are those of the male sex who id as women. The words female and male denote sex not gender and it is impossible for those born male to become female and vice versa. Sex matters when we are discussing issues around gender identity. Sexed bodies compete not gender identities.

Diane

1 year ago

Reply to Diane

That should read *Swimming World not Marta World

Diane

1 year ago

Thank you FINA for standing up for fairness in Women’s Sport. No male however he identifies should be permitted to compete in any female sports competitions. And thank you Swimming World for your excellent coverage regarding the issue of males competing in female sports. Point to note Swimming World, I have really enjoyed your fair and balanced coverage of this issue over the last few months and regularly share your articles via social media. In this instance, I feel I cannot as this article misrepresents transgender females. Transgender females are transmen – those of the female sex who id as men. Transgender males are transwomen – those of the male sex who id as women. The words female and male denote sex not gender and it is impossible for those born male to become female and vice versa. Sex matters when we are discussing issues around gender identity and sporting competition and it is important we do not obfuscate language. It just confuses the issue. Sexed bodies compete not gender identities.

Last edited 1 year ago by Diane

Billy

1 year ago

The rule will work well, but any parent whose allows their son to transition at the age of younger than 12 should be thrown into a mental institution. In my world any mixed up person who wants to “change” sex or gender should be at least 18, if not 21. My rule would be XX vs. XX (born female) and XY vs XY (born male) for athletic competition, NO EXCEPTIONS!

Lucia

1 year ago

I presume the irony of such a ruling is lost on you all, given it is in Budapest.

Last edited 1 year ago by Lucia

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Mom

1 year ago

Can we now address the locker room issue, too? Nobody with a male part belongs in a women’s locker room, and anybody that doesn’t see this as a safety issue is burying their head in the sand.