Transgender swimmers to compete in world-first test event later in 2023

A new event is being planned by World Aquatics which will permit competitors to compete regardless of their sex, their legal gender or their gender identity.

Lia Thomas (L) dominated the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Picture: Getty Images

International swimming bosses are preparing to take the plunge and push ahead with a world-first event for elite transgender competitors.

The details of where and when the test event will take place remain top secret, at least for now, because World Aquatics, the global governing body for the swimming, knows just how politically divisive the issue is.

However, highly-placed sources have told this masthead that the sport’s leaders have made the decision to proceed with a test event later in 2023.

It is understood that a formal announcement will be made at the World Aquatics annual Congress, taking place in Fukuoka, Japan on Tuesday.

The issue is considered so sensitive that none of the attending delegates, which will include representatives from Swimming Australia, have been told about the announcement, so will hear it for the first time.

Swimming’s top brass have deliberately kept things under wraps because they are paranoid that any leaks could torpedo their chances of trying to find a solution to the murkiest issue in world sport.

While most other major sports have gone running for cover, swimming’s decision to take a stand has been both applauded and condemned.

Lia Thomas (L) dominated the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Picture: Getty Images

Formally known as FINA, World Aquatics found that out the hard way at last year’s Congress in Budapest when they voted 71 per cent in favour of banning trans athletes from women’s elite competitions, such as the Olympics and world championships, while creating a separate ‘open’ category for athletes who are not eligible for the female category because they have advantages specific to male development.

Exactly how that works has not been announced yet, and won’t be on Tuesday because World Aquatics wants to keep as many details as possible to themselves, partly to protect competitors who sign up from the intense scrutiny they will face.

Officials have said they wanted to create a column for competitors to compete regardless of their sex, their legal gender or their gender identity but sources said they don’t know how many competitors will actually enter and show up at the test event.

What is known is that trans swimmers such as American Lia Thomas would be welcome to compete, if they met the participation rules and qualifying times.

It’s understood that a framework has been completed by a working group, involving industry-leading specialists from all over the world, including scientists, human rights advocates, lawyers and athletes, who have spent a year figuring out coming up with recommendations.

British swimmer Sharron Davies, one of the most vocal critics of transgender athletes competing in women’s events, is on record saying she supports the idea of an open category.

She has just published a book: ‘ Unfair Play: The Battle For Women’s Sport ‘, in which she wrote in favour of the proposal.

“An ‘open’ category is the way forward. It’s the only way to ensure that boundaries are respected and female athletes get the same level of fair play as their male counterparts. Yet everyone is included.

“In the back rooms of debate about what ‘open’ would look like, differences in the trans population have been a sticking point. Transmen and transwomen are not the same: one is still male and one still female, no matter how they choose to identify.”

Originally published as Transgender swimmers to compete in world-first test event later in 2023