World Aquatics (WA), the international water sports governing body, announced in a press release Tuesday that it is getting rid of its transgender “open” category for the 2023 World Cup since no athletes had decided to sign up.
WA said in August that it was opening a category for athletes to swim the 50-meter and 100-meter distances regardless of gender. After athletes failed to show, WA decided to scrap the category for the World Cup in Berlin, Germany, from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8 but noted that the “Open Category Working Group” would still consider reopening the division if demand increased in the future, according to the press release. (RELATED: Transgender Athletes Banned From International Fishing Competition After Entire Nation Threatens To Boycott)
“The World Aquatics Open Category Working Group will continue its work and engagement with the aquatics community on Open Category events,” the announcement reads. “Even if there is no current demand at the elite level, the working group is planning to look at the possibility of including Open Category races at Masters events in the future.”
Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, swims for the University of Pennsylvania at an Ivy League swim meet against Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 22, 2022. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
WA originally planned to debut the open category in July in Fukuoka, Japan, during its congressional meeting but later decided against it. The organization announced its new “gender inclusion policy” in 2022, which made it possible to create the “open category” for future competitions and required male athletes looking to compete in the female division to have transitioned and experienced no puberty symptoms before the age of 12, as well maintaining regular testosterone levels below 2.5 nanomoles per liter.
“When World Aquatics instituted its Policy on Eligibility for the Men’s and Women’s Competition Categories, we committed to exploring the creation of an open category,” World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam said, according to the press release. “True to our word, a team of experts has diligently worked to make this a reality. I would like to thank all those who have helped World Aquatics to deliver this opportunity.”
Other sport governing bodies have opted to not allow transgender athletes to compete in divisions outside of their biological sex, such as the International Cycling Union, which announced in July that males who had transitioned after puberty could not compete in the female category. The International Angling Sports Federation made a similar decision on Sept. 29 after England’s team said that it would boycott the world championship if men were allowed to compete with women.
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