The World Swimming Org bans trans women athletes who are over puberty

Lia Thomas‘participation in women’s swimming has reached a breaking point – because the world governing body for the sport has weighed in … and their decision is against her.

FINA – French for the International Swimming Federation – came up with their decision this weekend regarding transgender athletes (specifically trans women) participating in swimming for women … and they say it’s a no-go going forward, with some reservations.

The organization is new politics say male-to-female swimmers who switch before the age of 12 or before Tanner Stage 2 of puberty – whichever comes later – can compete in women’s events. The reason … they say there is no doubt that a trans female athlete who has already undergone a male puberty has an unfair physical advantage over cis-gendered women.

They reached this conclusion based on several studies, reports and presentations from 3 specialist groups, which presented their results to FINA – consisting of members from 152 national federations – who then voted … by a 71% majority in favor of this decision. .

In the wake of this case, a representative of Prez from FINA told the AP: “This does not mean that people are encouraged to go over the age of 12. This is what the researchers say that if you change after the onset of puberty, you has an advantage, which is unfair. “

Spoxen adds: “They do not say that everyone should change within 11 years, that is ridiculous. You can not change to that age in most countries and hopefully you will not be encouraged to do so. Basically, what they say is that it is not possible for people who have gone over to compete without having an advantage. ” They clarified that there are no trans women currently competing at elite levels in swimming … presumably, which means international competition.

One thing FINA is considering being inclusive for trans swimmers … an “open competition” category. It is poorly defined at present, but they require a team to investigate further.

It is unclear whether FINA’s new rules will be adopted by agencies like the NCAA, which currently allow people like Lia to compete in collegiate swimming. She made history this year by winning a national title in women’s swimming, 500 meters freestyle.

At least there are some who welcome the news … incl Caitlyn Jennerwho has been advocating for such a change for some time now – and says that female transatletics have an undeniable physical advantage over their cisgender competition, as many others have.

She wrote: “It worked! I took a lot of heat – but what’s fair is reasonable! If you are going through male puberty, you should not be able to take medals from women. Punctuation.”