SWIMMING RULING WILL MAKE WAVES
THE most divisive issue world sport has faced since apartheid is about to boil over with Australia’s favourite Olympic sport, swimming, set to make an historic ruling that could define transgender participation in women’s sport.
Swimming’s world governing body FINA is set to confront the hot potato decision that sports officials around the world have been terrified of making at a landmark meeting in Budapest on Sunday.
There is no simple win-win solution in the highly emotional feud between inclusion of transgender athletes and fair play for biological female athletes, but FINA is prepared to be the first sport to tackle the issue head on.
Knowing that the first one through the wall will get a bloodied nose, no major sport has had the guts to make a definitive ruling but highly placed sources have told News Corp that will all change this weekend – and the global response will be deafening.
Speaking under strict confidentiality because less than a handful of people are aware of what’s about to take place – highly placed sources have told News Corp that FINA expect a definitive ruling to be made this weekend.
It’s already known that FINA’s leaders have agreed to discuss the transgender issue at Sunday’s extraordinary Congress in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
But what isn’t known yet – until now – is that when participants show up, they will be asked to vote on landmark recommendations that could change world sport forever.
Aware that any decision relating to the transgender issue – no matter which way it goes – will set off a firestorm of complaints, FINA’s top brass has gone to extreme lengths to keep the recommendations top secret.
Normally, FINA’s decisions are made by the 30-member bureau – which includes Australia’s Matt Dunn, the second vice-president, who has managed to keep a low profile in the sport despite wielding enormous influence. But because the transgender issue is so touchy and the stakes are so high – News Corp understands FINA will break with tradition and allow all its members – representing over 190 countries – to vote on whether or not they accept the proposals.
The recommendations are so secretive that leading swimming federations, including Australia and the United States, still have no idea what they are and won’t be told until Sunday.
It’s also understood the International Olympic President Thomas Bach will travel to Budapest to address the Congress before the vote but will not comment on the transgender issue because it’s so precarious.
Although they have not been told what the recommendations are, Australian officials have long insisted the sport’s world governing body was the right authority to make the call, rather than leaving it to separate countries.