Fina gets the science right, say top swimmers

Cate Campbell in sizzling form at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo Source

Fina, the International Swimming Federation, voted at the weekend to stop transgender athletes from competing in women's elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty.

It means that transgender American college swimmer Lia Thomas, who has expressed a desire to compete for a place at the Olympics, would be blocked from participating in the female category, the BBC reports.

The decision was welcomed by former Great Britain swimmer Sharron Davies and Australia's four-time Olympic gold medallist Cate Campbell, who both refer to the scientific reality of the differences in male and female bodies.

The new policy, which was passed with 71% of the vote from 152 Fina members, was set during an extraordinary general congress at the ongoing World Championships in Budapest.

Fina members received a report from a transgender task force made up of leading figures from the world of medicine, law and sport.

Campbell, 30, told the congress before the vote was taken that she knows first-hand what it means to feel being an outsider. Her family migrated to Australia from the southern African country of Malawi when she was nine years old and one way the family integrated into their new community was through sport. 

"We see you, value you and accept you," Campbell said [addressing transgender athletes].

"My role, however, is also to stand up here, having asked our world governing body,  to investigate, deliberate and uphold the cornerstone of fairness in elite women's competition.

"And it pains me that this part of my role may injure, infuriate and, potentially, alienate people from an already marginalised [transgender] community.

"Believe me, I have wrestled long and hard with myself, with what to say and do. I am aware that my actions and words, no matter what I say, will anger some people — whether they are from the [transgender] community or from the cisgender female community.

"If inclusion is one of the cornerstones of sport, then the other would be fairness, fairness in regards to competition, especially elite, professional competition.

"The incongruity that inclusion and fairness cannot always work together is one of the reasons why it is so difficult to talk about this topic.

"Usually, they are terms of absolutes which work together, yet science now tells us that, in this issue, they are incompatible."

Campbell will later talk about how the reality of science must stand in judgment of "feelings" about perceived rights. She continues, providing insights into the world of competitive sport:

Unlike in community or amateur sport, in elite sport, winning and losing goes hand in hand with politics, money and power.

Creating a place where men and women can come up against the best of their contemporaries and battle it out — down to 100ths and 10ths of a second. This battle, this standing up and comparing of wills and physique is what draws people to watch sport — to see who can squeeze the very last ounce out of their bodies and minds and emerge victorious. Without fair competition, sport in its elite sense, would cease to exist.

Usually, inclusion and fairness go hand in hand. To create a place that is inclusive, is to create a space that is fair. Transgender, gender-diverse and non-binary athletes' inclusion in the female category of elite sport, is one of the few occasions where these two principles come into conflict.

The incongruity that inclusion and fairness cannot always work together is one of the reasons why it is so difficult to talk about this topic.

Usually, they are terms of absolutes which work together, yet science now tells us, that in this issue, they are incompatible.

I stand before you, as a four-time Olympian, a world champion and a world record holder. I stand before you, as a beneficiary of fair, elite competition. Yet my job today is not to explain the nuances of Fina's transgender policy. Nor is it to defend the conclusions reached by medical and legal professionals of much greater intellect than mine.

My role is to stand before you, as an athlete who has enjoyed many, many years in this sport and who hopes to continue to enjoy a few more years. To stand here and tell the transgender and gender-diverse community that we want you to be part of the broader swimming community.

We see you, value you and accept you. My role, however, is also to stand up here, having asked our world governing body, Fina, to investigate, deliberate and uphold the cornerstone of fairness in elite women's competition.

However, I am asking everyone to take a breath, to absorb before reacting. Listen to the science and experts. Listen to the people who stand up here and tell you how difficult it has been to reconcile inclusion and fairness.

That men and women are physiologically different cannot be disputed. We are only now beginning to explore and understand the origins of these physiological differences and the lasting effects of exposure to differing hormones. Women, who have fought long and hard to be included and seen as equals in sport, can only do so because of the gender category distinction. To remove that distinction would be to the detriment of female athletes everywhere.

The creation of this policy did not stem from "feelings", what we "felt" was the right thing to do. The policy was created with the inclusion of medical professionals, legal professionals, athletes, coaches and people from the transgender community. It is a policy that pays attention to inclusion, but prioritises fairness.

Ultimately, this not about winners and losers, it is about investigating and developing a policy which accurately represents the science and draws a line to protect the fairness of the female category distinction in elite sport.

Not community sport, not amateur sport — elite, professional sport. I want the broader swimming community to be a place of safety and acceptance for the gender-diverse — and I call on all the federations sitting within this room to examine your own policies to ensure the world of swimming remains inclusive.

It is my hope that young girls all around the world can continue to dream of becoming Olympic and World Champions in a female category prioritising the competitive cornerstone of fairness.

However, it is also my hope that a young gender-diverse child can walk into a swimming club and feel the same level of acceptance that a nine-year-old immigrant kid from Africa did all those years ago.

 The BBC's report states.

Fina will also aim to establish an 'open' category at competitions for swimmers whose gender identity is different than their birth sex.

British swimmer states 'They've done the science'

Sharron Davies states:

Four years ago, along with 60 other Olympic medallists, I wrote to the International Olympic Committee and said 'Please just do the science first' and no governing body has done the science until now.

That is what Fina has done. They've done the science, they've got the right people on board, they've spoken to the athletes, and coaches.

Swimming is a very inclusive sport, we love everyone to come and swim and be involved. But the cornerstone of sport is that it has to be fair and it has to be fair for both sexes.

"Sport by definition is exclusionary—we don't have 15-year-old boys racing in the under-12s, we don't have heavyweight boxers in with the bantamweights, the whole reason we have lots of different classes in the Paralympics is so that we can create fair opportunities for everybody.

So that is the whole point of having classifications in sports and the only people who were going to be losing out were females—they were losing their right to fair sport."

What did the panel of experts say?

Dr Michael Joyner, a physiologist and leading expert in human performance

Testosterone in male puberty alters the physiological determinants of human performance and explains the sex-based differences in human performance, considered clearly evident by age 12.

Even if testosterone is suppressed, its performance enhancing effects will be retained."

Dr Adrian Jjuuko, an activist, researcher and lawyer

The policy emphasises that no athlete is excluded from Fina competition or setting Fina records based on their legal gender, gender identity or gender expression.

[The proposed open category] should not become a category that adds to the already existing levels of discrimination and marginalisation against these groups.

I see this policy as only the first step towards full inclusion and support for the participation of transgender and gender-diverse athletes in aquatic sports, and there is a lot more to be done.

Dr Sandra Hunter, an exercise physiologist specialising in sex and age differences in athletic performance

By 14 years or older, the difference between boys and girls is substantial. That's due to the advantages experienced due to the physiological adaptations in testosterone and the possession of the Y chromosome.

Some of these physical advantages are structural in origin such as height, limb length, heart size, lung size and they will be retained, even with the suppression or reduction of testosterone that occurs in the transition from male to female."

Summer Sanders, of the US, former Olympic and world champion in swimming

This is not easy. There must be categories—women's, men's and of course a category for trans women and trans men.

Fair competition is a stronghold and staple of our community—this approach safeguards the integrity of the existing sports process in which millions of girls and women participate annually.