Who can participate in sports?
The emotional debate about trans people
03/27/2022, 10:08 am
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Amidst an emotional societal debate in the US, trans woman Lia Thomas wins a national swimming championship. Unfair, say the critics, although the 22-year-old has followed all the rules. The topic is relevant far beyond the country.
When does the sport accept a trans woman as a participant? And do different rules apply there than in society? Not just since swimmer Lia Thomas a week ago in Atlanta as the first trans woman to become champion at the highest level of college sports have these two questions been discussed emotionally in the USA. Arizona on Thursday was next on the growing list of states to ban trans women from being part of an all-girls team in high school. But the debate extends far beyond the United States. It is relevant to sport worldwide.
Thomas belongs to the group of people who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. “The very simple answer is, I’m not a man. I’m a woman, so I belong on the women’s team. Trans people deserve the same respect that every other athlete gets,” the 22-year-old told Sports Illustrated.
At the end of her time at high school, she began to question her manhood, at college she was able to better understand her feelings through conversations with other trans people and finally came out within the family in the summer after her first year of study in Pennsylvania. It will be months before Thomas tells her coaches and other people about it, but eventually that will happen. It was reported by “Sports Illustrated” in early March. The otherwise media-shy woman spoke to the magazine several times and told her story.
Not as fast as as a man
She starts hormone therapy and suppresses the testosterone in her body. After twelve months, according to the rules at the time, a trans woman can compete in women’s competitions at the US college. Corona is delaying everything, but for the 2021/2022 season, Texas native Thomas is finally a member of the women’s swim team.
Thomas no longer swims as fast as he did as a man. Your body has changed, the strength is gone sooner and it takes longer to regenerate. However, she swims faster than most women she competes against – sometimes by several seconds. What is initially only noticed in the small collegiate swimming world is getting increasing attention for her performances at a fall competition. After winning the 500-yard freestyle race last Thursday, the excitement is soaring.
Critics say their participation is unfair. Because she was a man during her puberty, she has a biological advantage over her competitors – taller, more athletic, more powerful. People who defend Thomas in particular and trans people in general argue: physical characteristics are never fair, most top athletes have some advantage and that’s why they are so good at their respective disciplines. Gender segregation in sport is there to protect women and let them shine in the absence of male competition, some say. Thomas is a woman, the other.
Who does the sport accept as a participant?
Relative to the population, despite increasing awareness, trans people are a very small group, especially in sports. But they are becoming increasingly visible in society. That’s what Thomas is all about. “I just want to show trans kids and younger trans athletes that they’re not alone,” she told Sports Illustrated. “They don’t have to choose between who they are and the sport they love.”
Who does the sport accept as a participant? This question was also asked many times because of Caster Semenya. The track and field athlete from South Africa is not a trans woman. The achievements and abilities of the two-time 800-meter Olympic champion have occupied associations and courts for a long time. The World Federation eventually set a testosterone limit for any woman who wants to compete between 400 meters and a mile. Semenya sued against it, most recently before the European Court of Human Rights.
To what extent such a limit makes sense at all has not been clearly proven. In 2014, a study came to the conclusion that top athletes with relatively high testosterone levels can actually have more testosterone in their bodies than top athletes with relatively low testosterone levels. A study published last year concluded that after just nine months of trans women’s hormone therapy, certain levels in their bodies could return to levels most women have. Even after three years, certain strength values are still above average. The data used comes from trans people with no connection to top-class sport.
“Want to swim as who I am”
The International Olympic Committee has placed responsibility in the hands of the professional associations. Since the fall – after weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first openly trans woman to compete in the Olympics in Tokyo – there has been a policy designed to prevent discrimination and emphasize the right of all athletes to compete. There is no longer a blanket testosterone limit.
The IOC leaves the specific implementation of possible tests to others. The World Swimming Federation (Fina) informed the German Press Agency that they are working on a guideline for trans people that is easy to understand and has the right balance between inclusion and fairness.
What is happening beyond the college level may also be meaningful for Lia Thomas in the future. After winning the 500 yards, she tied for fifth place in the 200 yard freestyle and eighth in the 100 yard freestyle – her last race in a student championship. “I don’t know exactly what my future in swimming will be after this year, but I would love to continue,” she told Sports Illustrated. An attempt to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris seems within the realm of possibility. “I want to swim and compete as who I am.”
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