Swimming body's World Cup 'open' races for transgenders cancelled after no one shows up

A little more than a year after banning transgender women from competing in elite female swimming events, the World Aquatics, earlier this week, cancelled its first 'open races' for transgenders after no one registered for the event. The World Cup meeting was scheduled to take place in Berlin but the organisers were forced to scrap the event after receiving no entries.

"Following the close of registration for the open category competitions, World Aquatics can confirm that no entries have been received for the Open Category events," World Aquatics said in a statement.

The open category was set to feature 50-metre and 100-metre races across all strokes as part of a "pioneering pilot project'. It was last year that thegoverning body of the sport decided to introduce a new category for athletes whose gender identity is different from their birth sex, after banning transgender participation.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

World Aquaticsto continue its efforts

Despite receiving no entries, the global body is aiming to persist with the endeavour and will include the category at masters events in future.

'The World Aquatics open category working group will continue its work and engagement with the aquatics community on open category events. Even if there is no current demand at the elite level, the working group is planning to look at the possibility of including open category races at masters events in the future.'

British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies - a vocal critic of transgender women competing in women's sport - took to social media and trashed the transgender females for not turning up to face their competition.

"If trans women aren't going to get the physical benefit of racing females instead of others males, they're not interested!" said Davies.

In June 2022, World Aquatics' (formerly known as FINA), voted to allow only those who had completed their transition by the age of 12 to take part in women's competitions. The decision was prompted after reviewing the success of American Lia Thomas, who despite being a moderate college swimmer as a male competitor, managed to win an NCAA national college title in the women's category after transitioning.

A section of the sporting world believes that it is unfair to biological females when transgender females compete against them. Despite the transition, the transgenders possess visible physical advantages over their female counterparts which leads to an uneven playing field. The 'Open' event was aimed at providing a solution but it may have thrown more questions than before, experts say.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: