World Aquatics, the governing body for swimming, has announced the creation of an open category for transgender athletes at the upcoming World Cup event in Berlin.
The initiative embraces “all sex and gender identities,” encompassing 50m and 100m races across all swimming strokes.
The decision marks a significant stride towards fairness for women in the world of sports.
A statement from World Aquatics predictably underlined their commitment to “celebrating diversity.”
The new category is seen as a pilot project.
Last year, World Aquatics banned transgender women who transitioned after their twelfth birthday from competing in their swimming events with women.
An upcoming World Cup event scheduled from October 6 to 8 is in Berlin, Germany, where the transgender category will be isolated from the women’s.
CTV is broken
In reporting on the development, CTV claimed there’s no scientific evidence that trans women hold a physical advantage over women.
“Advocates of banning transgender women from women’s sport have argued that transgender women have a physical advantage over cisgender women in sports,” the outlet wrote.
“But the mainstream science does not support that conclusion. A 2017 report in the journal Sports Medicine that reviewed several related studies found ‘no direct or consistent research’ on Trans people having an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers, and critics say the bans add to the discrimination trans people face.”
Other sports slow to do the right thing
Earlier this month, a trans woman smashed the Canadian women’s weightlifting record.
