On Tuesday, USA Swimming updated its policy regarding the eligibility of transgender athletes competing at elite levels.
The new policy, which will be effective immediately, states that a transgender woman athlete’s eligibility to compete against female swimmers at an elite level will be determined by a three-person panel of medical experts.
In a statement, the sport’s governing body acknowledged a ‘competitive difference in the male and female categories and the disadvantages this presents in elite head-to-head competition’.
Accordingly, transgender woman swimmers must show that the testosterone concentration in their blood has contained fewer than 5 nanomoles per litre continuously for at least 36 months prior to competition. This forms part of the determination of whether the athletes’ prior development as males gives them a competitive advantage over ‘cisgender’ female competitors.
The new law is partly in response to the University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas’s recent record-breaking achievements. Thomas, who competed on the University’s men’s team for three seasons, underwent hormone transition therapy and subsequently began competing in the women’s division. In December, Thomas made waves by qualifying for the National Collegiate Athletic Association championships by beating her closest competitor by 38 seconds.
USA Swimming said that it will ‘continue to champion gender equity and the inclusivity of all cisgender and transgender women and their rights to participate in sport, while also fervently supporting competitive equity at elite levels of competition.’
The organisation confirmed that the new policy will only apply to transgender athletes who wish to set records in the 13-14 age group and older, or those wishing to set national records.
Transgender swimmers competing at non-elite levels are free to compete ‘in a manner consistent with their gender identity and expression’.