Lausanne, June 23 (BUS): The International Hockey Federation (IHF) and the World Triathlon have joined a group of governing bodies to review their policy on the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sport following last weekend’s decision by FINA’s top swimming body.
FINA voted on Sunday to ban anyone who has gone through puberty from elite women’s competitions and create a working group to create an “open” category for transgender swimmers in some events as part of its new policy, Reuters reports.
“We are conducting a review of our transgender policy and this is work currently underway in consultation with the International Olympic Committee,” a spokesperson for the International Federation of Gender Engineering told Reuters on Wednesday.
The World Triathlon is working on its own guidelines which will be released after Executive Board approval in November, after review by the Medical Committee, the Women’s Committee and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
“Once approved, it will be implemented at the international level (World Triathlon) and will also be distributed to all national federations for implementation at the local level,” a World Triathlon spokesperson said.
“We have also reached out to the transgender community to receive their feedback and input.
“We really hope that the new guidelines will provide fair and inclusive competition for all athletes, including transgender athletes and non-binary athletes.”
The International Boat Federation (ICF) is also preparing a transgender policy which will be presented at its full board meeting in November.
“We are currently following IOC guidelines with regard to sports where physical strength is a factor,” a FIFA spokesperson said.
World Athletics, the soccer governing body FIFA, and World Netball are reviewing their transgender inclusion policies following the FINA ruling, the most stringent by any Olympic sports body. Read more
The Rugby League banned transgender players from women’s international competition until further notice on Tuesday, while the International Cycling Union (UCI) last week tightened its eligibility rules. Read more
The IOC said in November that no athlete should be excluded from competition on the basis of what it considered an unfair advantage, leaving it to sports federations to decide where the balance lies between inclusion and equity.
“When it comes to payment, if it is a judgment between inclusion and fairness, we will always fall on the side of fairness – and that to me is non-negotiable,” said Sebastian Coe, president of world athletics, in announcing the review of his organization.
World Rugby imposed a ban on transgender players competing at the elite level in the women’s game last year, due to safety concerns.