2023-10-03 20:22:34
World Aquatics has received “no registrations” for its new “open category”, intended to welcome transgender swimmers at the Swimming World Cup in Berlin this weekend, the world body announced in a press release on Tuesday.
World Aquatics announced in mid-August the launch of this category from the Berlin World Cup stage, after having banned transgender athletes from participating in major events such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup in 2022. A working group responsible for setting up an “open category” was then created.
“The World Aquatics working group on the open category will continue its task and its engagement with the aquatic community,” said the international federation. Although there is currently no demand at the elite level, the working group plans to examine the possibility of including open category races in Masters events in the future. »
No uniform IOC guidelines
The Berlin meeting, one of three stages of the Swimming World Cup this year, takes place from October 6 to 8, and serves as qualifiers for the Doha World Cup in February 2024 and for the Paris Olympics, next summer. The “open categories” were offered for 50 and 100 m in all swims.
The British Rowing and Cycling Federations have also announced in recent months the creation of an “open category” for transgender and non-binary people. At the international level, at the end of 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave up on establishing uniform guidelines for the participation criteria of intersex and transgender athletes, leaving control to the federations.
The international governing bodies of cycling and athletics have banned transgender competitors. World Athletics, which oversees athletics, decided in March to exclude transgender people from women’s competitions.
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