Manchester, June 21 (BNA) The International Football Association (FIFA) and world athletics, on Monday, said they are reviewing transgender eligibility policies after swimming approved new rules restricting the participation of transgender people in women’s events.
Swimming’s global governing body FINA voted on Sunday to limit the participation of transgender athletes in elite women’s competitions and create a working group to create a category “open” to them in some events as part of its new policy, Reuters reports.
The new policy states that male-to-female swimmers (transgender women) are eligible to compete in women’s competitions only if they “can demonstrate to the satisfaction of FINA that they have not experienced any part of male puberty after Tanner stage 2. (puberty age) or before the age of 12, whichever is later.”
A FIFA spokesman told Reuters it was in the process of consulting on a new policy.
“FIFA is currently reviewing the gender-specific eligibility regulations in consultation with expert stakeholders,” the spokeswoman said.
“Due to the ongoing nature of the process, FIFA is not in a position to comment on the details of proposed amendments to the current regulations,” the spokesperson added.
Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, told the BBC that the organization’s board would discuss their regulations at the end of the year.
Coe praised FINA for making the decision, which transgender rights advocates have criticized.
“We are seeing an international federation asserting its primacy in setting the rules, regulations and policies that are in the interest of its sport,” he told the BBC.
“This is what it should be. We have always believed that biology is superior to sex and we will continue to revise our regulations in line with this. We will follow the science.”
“We continue to study, research, and contribute to the growing body of evidence that testosterone is a key determinant of performance, and have set a discussion on our regulations with our board at the end of the year,” he added.
FIFA said it was receiving guidance from medical, legal, scientific, performance and human rights experts, as well as from the position of the International Olympic Committee.
“If FIFA is required to verify a player’s eligibility before the new regulations are implemented, any such case will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, bearing in mind FIFA’s clear commitment to respect human rights.” The official spokesperson said.
Last year, the International Olympic Committee issued a “framework” on the issue, leaving eligibility decisions to individual sporting bodies, but added that “until the evidence determines otherwise, athletes should not be considered to have an unfair or disproportionate competitive advantage because of their gender and appearance. physical and/or transgender status.”
Current World Athletics rules set testosterone levels at five nanomols per liter (5 nmol/L) for transgender athletes and for competitors with differences in sexual development (DSD) in certain women’s running events.
Koe said it was important to protect the integrity of women’s sports.
“When it comes to payment, if the judgment is between consolidation and equity, we will always fall on the side of equity – and that to me is non-negotiable.
“We cannot have a generation of young girls thinking that they have no future in this sport. So we have a responsibility to … maintaining the primacy and integrity of women’s competition is absolutely vital,” he added.
Last week, the International Cycling Union (UCI) tightened its rules on transgender participation by increasing the transition period on low testosterone to two years and reducing the maximum allowable level of testosterone.