Despite Showcasing Major Support to Lia Thomas and Co. Fina Highly Disappointed in Swimming Community of Low Participation

The World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 is just around the corner and actions are going on in full force. The entry lists for the competition have recently been released and it inculcates all the big entity’s names, the World record holders, Olympic Gold medalists and so many more. To include every single swimmer, FINA has recently taken a step. They have newly added the category ‘open-category’ in support of transgender athletes.

The fiasco of the entire transgender participation has been creating havoc in the swimming community. This started after the transgender swimmer Lia Thomas was allowed to compete in the women’s category by the NCAA where she nabbed the win. After multiple controversies, FINA stood up to support by creating this new category. But the effort of FINA met with a sorry state of fate.

The swimming community upsets the authorities with zero registrations

The World Aquatics Swimming World Cup is all set to take place from the 6th to the 8th of October 2023, in Berlin. It has been releasing all the informative data prior to the competition, like the events and the athletes participating. One recent update about the open category has amassed a lot of attention. Everyone is aware of the transgender conflict of Lia Thomas going on in the swimming world, and the associations have done their best for the transgender athletes with great opportunities. However, even after the support given to Thomas and the potential swimmers by creating a new category, the World Cup has still no registrations received for the same.

The World Aquatics have confirmed the same by sharing this update on their X account. They have confirmed that there have been no entries for the open category. There is no doubt in the fact that it is upsetting for the organization, as they stated, “Distances in various events had been available for the Open Category, introduced on a pilot basis following the adoption of the World Aquatics Policy on Eligibility for the Men’s and Women’s Competition Charges.”?

They further added the working group will keep on working with the aquatics community on Open Category events. Although there have been no entries, the association is looking forward to the potential of inculcating the new category races at Masters’ events in the coming time. This is a very huge and sensitive update on the open category area as the association with everything in hand tried to support them.

Situation of trans athletes in the swimming community?

Huge controversies have occurred in the past after Lia Thomas competed in the women’s category allowed by the NCAA. Hundreds of opinions were set inside and outside the swimming community. After all the ruckus, to bring stability and peace, FINA introduced a new category in swimming for transgender athletes.

This decision was thrown into light in January 2023 and this announcement was made just after FINA was one of the members of the association to be against the participation of transgenders in swimming. This category was not specifically allotted for transgender women.

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Even though it was the main reason behind introducing it, it was also open to cisgender men and women. However, nobody chose to be a part of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023. The swimming enthusiasts are now on their toes to witness what is coming next.

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