Former Olympic swimmer Sharon Davis has spoken out about her “pride” in the sport after international governing body FINA announced it would ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s competitions.
Elite swimming is the first sport to completely ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s swimming competitions if they have reached male puberty, FINA reported on Sunday.
The International Swimming Sports Federation is creating an “open category” that will separate transgender athletes to compete in their own class.
Transsexual swimmers such as Leah Thomas, who currently competes in the women’s swim category, have broken women’s records and caused a stir with many who say she has an unfair physical advantage over her rivals.
The decision was made during the extraordinary general congress of FINA on the sidelines of the World Cup in Budapest, after members heard a report from a working group on transgender people, including leading medical, legal and sports figures.
British Olympian Sharon Davis MBE, who advocates for equality and justice in sport and speaks out against transgender swimmers in women’s competitions, tweets the news to FINA.
She wrote: “I can’t describe to you how proud I am of my sport @fina & @fina_president to be involved in science, asking athletes / coaches and upholding fair sports for women.
“Swimming will always welcome everyone, no matter how you identify them, but justice is the cornerstone of the sport.”
Her tweet was in response to her own post on Friday, which read: “Once a man goes through puberty, there will always be a great advantage in productivity and bone structure.
“Why do we ask women to accept to compete with a certain flaw before we even start? Women are not men with less testosterone. Compete with your gender.
Davis lost gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics to East German swimmer Petra Schneider, who was later accused of doping with drugs to increase performance, including testosterone.
Elite swimming is the first sport to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s competitions, even if they have reached puberty, the International Swimming Sports Federation said on Sunday. Leah Thomas, a transgender swimmer, is pictured
Hussein Al-Musalam, president of FINA, announced the news on Sunday afternoon.
“I do not want any athlete to be told that he cannot compete at the highest level,” al-Musalam told a congress of his organization today.
“I will set up a working group to create an open category for our meetings.
“We will be the first federation to do that.”
The new policy will require transgender athletes to complete their transition by the age of 12 in order to compete in women’s competitions.
Former Olympic swimmer Sharon Davis MBE, who advocates for equality and justice in sport and speaks out against transgender swimmers in women’s competitions, tweets FINA news
Davis (pictured in June 2022) lost gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics to East German swimmer Petra Schneider, who was later accused of doping drugs to increase performance, including testosterone.
The policy was adopted by a 71 percent majority after being presented to members of the 152 national voting federations that gathered for the congress at Pushkash Arena.
About 15 percent voted against the eligibility policy in the men’s and women’s competition categories, while 13 percent abstained.
Transgender rights have become a major topic of conversation as sport seeks to balance inclusion while ensuring that there is no unfair advantage.
The debate intensified after University of Pennsylvania swimmer Leah Thomas became the first NCAA transgender champion in Division I history to win the women’s 500-yard freestyle earlier this year.
Thomas swam for the Pennsylvania men’s team for three seasons before starting hormone replacement therapy in the spring of 2019.
A wave of doctors have suggested that Leah Thomas – and other trans-female athletes – will always have an unfair advantage in some sports because they can’t cancel puberty when their biological male bodies have been flooded with testosterone.
Last month, Thomas said that some “gender” women, which is a term used to describe someone whose gender identity is the same as when they were born, “have more testosterone, bigger arms and legs, and are taller than its competitors – so why should it ban when they are not.
“I don’t need anyone’s permission to be myself,” she said.
She also said that anyone who says she is not allowed to compete as a woman is transphobic, whether or not she supports her right to transition.
“You can’t go halfway and be like, ‘I support trans people, but only until a certain point.’
“If you support transgender women and they have met all the NCAA requirements, I don’t know if you can say something like that.”
So far, Leah Thomas has competed only in American College Swimming Meetings, most recently at the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association), the governing body of American college sports in March 2022.
But since then, Thomas has outlined his ambitions to compete in the Olympics. Speaking to ABC News in May, she said: “My goal has been to swim in the Olympic trials for a very long time and I would like to finish that.”
Under the FINA ban, Thomas will not be able to compete in women’s competitions, but will instead take part in the new “open category” for swimmers whose gender identity is different from their gender at birth.
In a previous interview with GB News, Davis said of the transgender issue in women’s sports: “We can’t figure out how to get out of reality. If there’s a race under 12 and there’s a 15-year-old boy who wants to “feel” his way to under 12, you can’t do that.
“If you’re a heavyweight boxer and you want to” feel “your way to a weightlifting, you can’t do that.
If you are a master’s student or have a disability and are in a certain category of the Paralympic Games, you can not “feel” your way to a better category, where you have an advantage, and this is the whole reason to have men’s and women’s sports, because otherwise only young men would win everything.
“So I don’t believe that feelings should be able to transcend biological reality and facts.”
The decision was made during the extraordinary general congress of FINA on the sidelines of the World Cup in Budapest, after members heard a report from a working group on transgender people, including leading medical, legal and sports figures. Swimmers shot in the women’s 100m breaststroke semifinals on Sunday at the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest
“Trans women are not a threat to women’s sports.”
In response to Sharon Davis’ tweet celebrating the news, many shared the same opinion. One wrote: “Finally, someone in sports has some common sense. Now other sports must follow suit.
Another said, “This should be the case in all amateur sports, not just elite sports,” and another added in a similar way, “Now for the other sports governing bodies.”
Sports scientist Ross Tucker tweeted: “I thank FINA for listening to women, your own swimmers and coaches, and the science of creating a policy that respects women’s sport.
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