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Leah Thomas, a transgender swimmer who won the 2022 NCAA Women’s Championship and has ambitions to compete in the Olympics, has told the Swiss Court of Arbitration for Sport that World Swimming is preventing transgender women from competing. requested that the rule be overturned. In the women’s division.
CAS, the world’s highest court for fairness in sport, confirmed the case in a statement on Friday, saying Thomas had argued the rules were illegal and discriminatory. “Such discrimination cannot be justified as being necessary, reasonable or proportionate to achieving a legitimate sporting objective,” Thomas argued, and CAS confirmed her position in a statement. I rephrased it.
CAS said arbitration proceedings began in September 2023 and the case was confidential in accordance with jurisdictional procedures. But Thomas and World Aquatics, the governing body for swimming and several other water sports, agreed to let the court make clear the existence of the lawsuit, the court said in a statement. On Thursday, the Telegraph reported that a lawsuit had been filed.
No hearing has been scheduled.
Thomas’ Canadian-based lawyer and World Aquatics did not respond to requests for comment.
World Swimming, which sets the rules that inform elite competitions including the Olympics, will introduce a new gender policy in June 2022 that will allow transgender women to enter the sport either before the age of 12 or during early adolescence. Women were allowed to compete in women’s events only if they had previously changed their gender. . This would effectively preclude transgender women who have reached male puberty from participating in women’s races.
World Swimming also introduced an “open” division for athletes who were not designated as female at birth, but at the first Swimming World Cup in Berlin in October, no entries were allowed in this division. He said there was no.
“World Aquatics continues to believe that its gender inclusion policy is a fair approach and remains absolutely determined to protect women’s sports,” said Brent Nou, Executive Director of World Aquatics. Mr Wicki told the Telegraph on Friday.
Thomas attended the University of Pennsylvania. She started swimming with her men’s swim team in 2017. In May 2019, Ms. Thomas began her transition using hormone replacement therapy. By 2021, Thomas had completed the NCAA hormone therapy requirements to swim for the Penn women’s team.
In March 2022, Thomas won the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Division I National Swimming Championships, becoming the first openly transgender woman to win a women’s collegiate swimming title. “I’m going to continue swimming,” Thomas told “Good Morning America” in May 2022. She said: “Swimming at the Olympic trials has been a goal of mine for a long time, so I would love to do it.”
Swimming is one of many sports to introduce policies for transgender athletes amid a broader debate about inclusion and fairness in competition. Last year, the governing bodies for track and field and cycling ruled that transgender women could not compete in women’s events. The International Cycling Union made the decision in July after American Austin Killips became the first openly transgender woman to win a cycling competition.
(Photo: Mike Comer / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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