FINA bans transgender swimmers from competing against women, reaction to new category being set up

The international body that governs world watersports competition has moved to ban transgender swimmers from competing against women, a major setback for the “woke” sports agenda that has effectively declared war on female athletes who are at a huge competitive disadvantage to their biological male counterparts.

On Sunday, FINA voted overwhelmingly to adopt a new “gender inclusion policy” that will prohibit transgenders from competing in women’s races unless they have transitioned by the age of 12, requiring them to prove that they have suppressed their testosterone levels from that time.

The governing body also moved to create a separate “open category” for transgenders to allow them to compete against each other, announcing that it would establish a new working group that will be tasked with determining the “most effective” ways to set up the new category.

“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,” Husain Al-Musallam, the body’s president said. “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.”

Al-Musallam’s spokesperson James Pearce 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.”

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

According to a statement issued by FINA, “The vote, which was 71.5 percent in favour of the new policy, took place after Congress heard speeches from representatives of a working group that was set up in November 2021. This working group consisted of three specialist groups – an athlete group, a science and medicine group, and a legal and human rights group.”

The new rules – which are fully described in a 24-page policy that was released on Sunday – are set to go into effect on Monday, dealing a blow to the hopes of celebrated University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, the first openly transgender individual to win a Division 1 NCAA championship event, drawing national attention as well as criticism over the obvious physical advantage that Thomas had over biological women.

According to a recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, a majority of 55 percent of respondents are against allowing transgenders to compete with girls and women in high school sports and 58 percent are opposed to it in college and pro sports.

FINA’s decision isn’t going to go over well with the rabidly leftist sports media but rational people will likely greet the news with great enthusiasm, especially the female athletes whose hard work and sacrifice to excel at their sport have been sacrificed upon the altar of “woke” leftist politics.

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