The Fort Worth Press - USA Swimming changes rules in wake of transgender athlete's success

USD -
AED 3.672945
AFN 68.452776
ALL 93.048382
AMD 390.177793
ANG 1.816976
AOA 912.000099
ARS 998.254804
AUD 1.545095
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.698032
BAM 1.853558
BBD 2.03554
BDT 120.47462
BGN 1.854815
BHD 0.376842
BIF 2977.069937
BMD 1
BND 1.347372
BOB 6.966716
BRL 5.8066
BSD 1.008198
BTN 85.007628
BWP 13.679442
BYN 3.299388
BYR 19600
BZD 2.031743
CAD 1.40115
CDF 2865.00001
CHF 0.886796
CLF 0.035848
CLP 989.153355
CNY 7.2386
CNH 7.250155
COP 4485.54
CRC 514.803442
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.500739
CZK 23.960302
DJF 179.528977
DKK 7.067495
DOP 60.720649
DZD 134.172669
EGP 49.290223
ERN 15
ETB 123.045036
EUR 0.94761
FJD 2.27535
FKP 0.788182
GBP 0.78774
GEL 2.73022
GGP 0.788182
GHS 16.275027
GIP 0.788182
GMD 71.000353
GNF 8626.906515
GTQ 7.732614
GYD 209.363849
HKD 7.782585
HNL 25.442281
HRK 7.13329
HTG 132.50221
HUF 386.996975
IDR 15903.429748
ILS 3.75444
IMP 0.788182
INR 84.41005
IQD 1320.093319
IRR 42092.497378
ISK 139.679665
JEP 0.788182
JMD 159.538871
JOD 0.709096
JPY 155.855499
KES 129.000177
KGS 86.2029
KHR 4082.940274
KMF 466.349913
KPW 900.000082
KRW 1405.409479
KWD 0.30779
KYD 0.833937
KZT 496.700918
LAK 22131.335237
LBP 89600.701953
LKR 294.541861
LRD 189.957415
LSL 18.103174
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.882485
MAD 10.020131
MDL 18.159255
MGA 4702.502532
MKD 58.284107
MMK 2097.999942
MNT 3397.999993
MOP 8.017648
MRU 40.117279
MUR 47.429998
MVR 15.450179
MWK 1747.434509
MXN 20.575145
MYR 4.487941
MZN 63.899993
NAD 18.103174
NGN 1684.120018
NIO 37.087736
NOK 11.14889
NPR 135.978578
NZD 1.705044
OMR 0.385012
PAB 1
PEN 3.819421
PGK 4.022654
PHP 58.845999
PKR 278.051027
PLN 4.117614
PYG 7864.722013
QAR 3.674102
RON 4.718904
RSD 110.930976
RUB 98.496748
RWF 1383.186748
SAR 3.757331
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.631406
SDG 601.506863
SEK 10.988925
SGD 1.346361
SHP 0.788182
SLE 22.815025
SLL 20969.515392
SOS 575.878195
SRD 35.280301
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.756103
SYP 2512.529926
SZL 18.108875
THB 35.068502
TJS 10.662352
TMT 3.51
TND 3.147935
TOP 2.38999
TRY 34.34961
TTD 6.800372
TWD 32.596799
TZS 2655.000038
UAH 41.343768
UGX 3672.512403
UYU 42.486895
UZS 12811.433733
VES 44.996696
VND 25396.829083
VUV 118.722046
WST 2.800822
XAF 621.928199
XAG 0.033254
XAU 0.000391
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.753908
XOF 621.928199
XPF 113.14122
YER 249.774976
ZAR 18.26826
ZMK 9001.200197
ZMW 27.374927
ZWL 321.999592
  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.61

    +0.28%

  • RIO

    -0.5800

    60.62

    -0.96%

  • NGG

    -0.7800

    62.12

    -1.26%

  • SCS

    -0.3000

    13.37

    -2.24%

  • CMSD

    -0.0200

    24.73

    -0.08%

  • BCC

    1.4200

    142.55

    +1%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.42

    +0.51%

  • GSK

    -0.4100

    35.11

    -1.17%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0400

    7.07

    -0.57%

  • RBGPF

    59.2500

    59.25

    +100%

  • BCE

    -0.4800

    27.21

    -1.76%

  • AZN

    0.1000

    65.29

    +0.15%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.24

    +0.15%

  • BP

    0.4100

    28.57

    +1.44%

  • RELX

    -0.4700

    46.12

    -1.02%

  • VOD

    0.2800

    8.75

    +3.2%

USA Swimming changes rules in wake of transgender athlete's success
USA Swimming changes rules in wake of transgender athlete's success

USA Swimming changes rules in wake of transgender athlete's success

A transgender American swimmer's controversial career hung in the balance Wednesday after the collegiate body governing the sport announced new rules, including testosterone limits, that could impact her ability to race competitively.

Text size:

Lia Thomas has dominated US collegiate women's swimming as a student athlete at the University of Pennsylvania, where just a few years earlier she had competed on the men's team.

Now, amid an uproar fueled by anger among American conservatives who accuse Thomas of an unfair advantage, USA Swimming unveiled guidelines that do not mention the 22-year-old by name but will impact her swimming future -- although exactly how remains unclear.

The policy said that because swimming is "an important vehicle for positive physical and mental health," it remains committed to "greater inclusivity" at the non-elite levels of the sport.

For the elite level, however, the body said it created a new set of guidelines for transgender athlete participation that "relies on science and medical evidence-based methods to provide a level-playing field for elite cisgender women, and to mitigate the advantages associated with male puberty and physiology."

USA Swimming said that a three-member panel comprised of medical experts and a veteran athlete was being established to implement the new policy and to rule on specific cases.

A key criterion that the panel will look for is that "from a medical perspective, the prior physical development of the athlete as a Male, as mitigated by any medical intervention, does not give the athlete a competitive advantage over the athlete's cisgender Female competitors."

In addition, a swimmer is ineligible "unless the athlete demonstrates that the concentration of testosterone in the athlete's serum has been less than 5 nmol/L (as measured by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry) continuously for a period of at least 36 months before the date of Application."

Doctors measure testosterone in nanomoles per liter (nmol/L). According to New York's Mount Sinai hospital, the healthy range of testosterone in a woman is 0.5 to 2.4 nmol/L.

Thomas followed National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules, undergoing a year-long testosterone suppression treatment.

But some organizations, such as the Women's Sports Policy Working Group, have deemed these rules insufficient, especially in cases where an athlete has begun her transition after puberty.

- 'Full support' -

The NCAA, which governs US college sports, said in January it would enforce rules set forth by USA Swimming, which has the authority to bar swimmers from competitions.

A swim meet for the Ivy League of mostly northeastern colleges is scheduled for February, and the NCAA National Championships are in March.

Thomas said she began her transition in May 2019 with hormone replacement therapy -- a combination of estrogen and testosterone suppressants.

In early December, in Akron, Ohio, she recorded the best performances of the year at the university level, in the 200-yard freestyle (1 min 41 sec 93") and in the 500-yard (457 meters) freestyle (4 min 34 sec 06").

Her performances have renewed a long-running debate about the fairness of a transgender woman competing against biological females.

Members of the Penn swimming team and diving team issued a statement supporting their transgender teammate.

"We want to express our full support for Lia in her transition," they said in the statement released late Tuesday, apparently after one teammate spoke out about Thomas.

"We value her as a person, teammate, and friend. The sentiments put forward by an anonymous member of our team are not representative of the feelings, values, and opinions of the entire Penn team, composed of 39 women with diverse backgrounds."

J.Ayala--TFWP