FINA also said it would create a working group to establish an “open” category for transgender athletes in some events as part of its new policy, but Jenner said there are “not enough trans athletes in the world” to compete in such a category.Navratilova critical of IOC stance
Bruce Jenner celebrates winning gold in the men’s decathlon at the Summer Olympics in Montreal on 30 July 1976. He is flanked by West German silver medallist Guido Kratschmer and the USSR’s bronze medallist Nikolay Avilov. LGBTQ rights group Athlete Ally said FINA’s new eligibility criteria were “discriminatory” and “harmful”, while transgender cyclist Veronica Ivy described the policy as “unscientific”.
“It’s been such a topsy-turvy situation… with the momentum totally on the side of the transgender athletes,” she told the newspaper. Advocates for transgender inclusion argue that not enough studies have been done on the impact of transition on physical performance, and that elite athletes are often physical outliers in any case.