Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies has spoken of her ‘pride’ for the sport after the international governing body FINA announced it will be banning transgender athletes from women’s races.
Elite swimming is the first sport to completely forbid transgender athletes from women’s swimming races if they went through male puberty, FINA announced on Sunday.
The international sports federation for swimming is setting up an ‘open category’ which will separate transgender athletes to compete in a class of their own.
Transgender swimmers like Lia Thomas, who currently competes in the women’s category at swim meets, has smashed women’s records and caused uproar with many arguing that she has an unfair physical advantage on her fellow competitors.
The decision was made during FINA’s extraordinary general congress on the sidelines of the world championships in Budapest after members heard a report from a transgender task force comprising leading medical, legal and sports figures.
British Olympian Sharron Davies MBE, who has advocated for equality and fairness in sport and has spoken out against transgender swimmers in women’s races, tweeted of FINA’s news.
She wrote: ‘I can’t tell you how proud I am of my sport @fina & @fina_president for doing the science, asking the athletes/coaches and standing up for fair sport for females.
‘Swimming will always welcome everyone no matter how you identify but fairness is the cornerstone of sport.’
Her tweet was in response to her own post from Friday, which read: ‘Once a male has gone through puberty there will always be a large retained performance advantage & bone structure.