now the world governing body of swimming
has voted to ban transgender athletes
from competing in women's events unless
they have transitioned by the age of 12.
it follows controversy over the issue of
swimmers who were born male but who
transitioned and then went on to win
women's races our sports correspondent
jane douglas has more details
the world swimming championships getting
underway in budapest but just hours
earlier in the same city the sports
governing body had made a crucial
decision
members of fina voted to effectively bar
any trans woman who has gone through
male puberty from competing in women's
events
we have to protect the rights of all our
athletes to compete
but we also have
to protect competitive fairness
at our events especially
women's competition
the policy has been prompted by swimmers
such as american leah thomas the first
known transgender swimmer to win a u.s
national college title thomas will now
not be eligible to compete in women's
events at the world championships or the
olympics former olympic swimmer and
campaigner sharon davies has welcomed it
i'm really proud of my my association to
be the first to come forward and
actually base their rules on proved
science you know we've been asking for
that for five years now we've all we've
ever wanted to have fair sport for
females it's an incredibly divisive
subject
the debate has led to other sports
examining their policies including world
cycling's governing body who will
tighten their rules it follows trans
athlete emily bridges failed attempt to
compete in the women's category fina say
they will also create an open category
but those disappointed with today's
changes say that's scant consolation if
trans women have undergone
an appropriate period of testosterone
suppression
then their advantages will be mitigated
to the point where we can have
meaningful competition between trans
women
fairness and inclusion are the
cornerstones of sport but this issue has
seen the two collide and when feelings
run as deep as this affecting so many
they won't dissipate anytime soon jane
doogle bbc news