Fina stops transgender swimmers from competing in women's elite events

A certain mum of a certain cyclist is not very happy.

It's the lead article in the Mail online:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10932093/Swimming-set-sport-create-category-allow-transgender-athletes-compete.html

Yes, exactly this. The subtext of this decision will reverberate far wider than the impact on swimming and sport, brilliant as that is.

Interestingly the voting was against having an open category. Not sure where that leaves the proposal.

You misunderstand.

It’s not the organisation signing an assumption of risk (waiver), it’s the individual.

Water polo gets pretty physical, so requiring a female wanting to compete with males to sign an assumption of risk means that they have to understand and accept any additional risks from voluntarily taking part in a dangerous activity.

Good god. Has the world finally opened its eyes? Wow. This is bloody amazing.

Good verdict and strong leadership

Thank you Sharon. And all who contributed to this 💪💪💪

Another point are open category medals going to count in national medal counts? If they are you could get seriously skewed medal tables (Saudi Arabia won't have that many in the open category for instance.

In reality I don't the medals will and the open category is proposed currently for legal cover. I think the challenge may come if a trans athletes tries to argue in court they have been denied a chance to gain a 'meaningful' medal in competition.

Very sensible

I'm not so sure that is the case. Didn't Bridges take place in a men's competition just last Spring. As part of a four man team, and they won medals. The NHS won't see men for treatment if their testosterone level is the same as some of these athletes. It is also more than a t level.

Also saw this on Reddit and was pleasantly surprised by the comments. A lot on the side of common sense, even if they are (in the main) happy to use pronouns and say TWAW.

Post has been removed by moderators after about 5000 comments. The comments must have been too full of common sense

If you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of a tanker slowly but surely being turned around….

Hopefully, then such parents will be held responsible for their actions. And, all the medical and psychobabble crew who are advocating it.

There is a potential problem with the open category as will it now be incumbent on organisations like the Olympics having to arrange, promote, televise open events in all swimming events.

The potential time expansion of events may be considerable and there may be presumably a lot of medals being won by a small pool of transgender athletes who will want the same recognition as to their fixed gender peers.

If Lia Thomas sweeps the board every Olympics in the open category and takes home suitcases full of gold medals to the US won't she expect slots on talkshows, meetings with politicians, national recognition etc.? If the same level of recognition isn't given to trans athletes won't this be construed by some as transphobia in itself?

If someone is allowed to compete, the organisation which is signing a safety waiver should still be liable for their safety and insurance coverage. I hope any f*cking org like that can't shirk their responsibility for anything that happens.

In the worst case scenario, a right to life is inalienable, isn't it?

S/he is apparently still into women and hanging out with the lads, so I read somewhere..

At last. Well done FINA.

Excellent news.

Were I a betting woman, I might put a tenner on Lia becoming Liam again within the next five years...

Indeed! Well, she wanted to make history....

💪💪💪
Keep speaking up

Thank you Lia from all the GC Women 😁

Yes - that might be because athletes feel that competing as your natal sex is appropriate, or it might be that introducing a third category will either extend competition lengths or (more likely) reduce the time available for male and female events. Not all 50m / 800m / 1500m events are swim due to time constraints.

It seems a fair way of doing things. Of course some won’t like it, as the decision implies that trans women’s biology is not female biology.

I agree, but even though fair, I just wonder whether the open category could ever be meaningful. The amount of investment to run a while separate category, but who would be competing in it? There are examples of transwomen and transmen continuing to compete in their sexed categories, so it would surely only be a minority who would enter "open".

Anyway, from what PP says it may be that an open category was rejected? I should maybe should read the source material!