Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas permanently banned from women's competitions. The world swimming body "congratulates itself"
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal by American transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, which she filed in January to contest her exclusion from women's competitions by the international federation, announced World Aquatics.
The world swimming body "congratulates itself" on this decision, which, according to the statement, "constitutes, in our opinion, a major step in efforts to protect women's sport".
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In its ruling on June 10th, the CAS did not address the validity of World Aquatics' regulations, but determined that Lia Thomas did not have "standing to act" to contest this text in court.
As a result, the 25-year-old swimmer is "authorized to compete only in competitions organized by USA Swimming and not in elite events, and for this reason, she is not subject to World Aquatics' rules, which pertain to international competitions", explained the CAS.
After beginning her transition from one gender to another in 2019, Lia Thomas became the first transgender swimmer to win a collegiate title in the United States in March 2022. Her results sparked heated discussions, with her opponents arguing that since she had competed as a male in the past, she would have an unfair physiological advantage.
A special category for transgender athletes has been created
World Aquatics decided to create an "open category" for transgender athletes, in addition to the female and male competitions, while limiting the female categories to swimmers who became women before puberty, a criterion also adopted by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and World Athletics.
"Ms. Thomas acknowledges that fairness is a legitimate sporting objective and that some regulation of swimming for transgender women is necessary", specified the CAS.
While the IOC has left it up to international federations to regulate the access of transgender athletes to competitions starting from 2021, recommending balancing sporting fairness with non-discrimination, World Aquatics considers that "its gender inclusion policy represents a fair decision".
