U.S. Masters Swimming Review Panel Finds Swimmer Was Eligible

U.S. Masters Swimming Review Panel Finds Swimmer Was Eligible in Spring

A U.S. Masters Swimming’s Eligibility Review Panel has discovered {that a} swimmer on the middle of a gender controversy within the spring was eligible to compete as a feminine.

In a press release launched Friday, U.S. Masters Swimming didn’t title the swimmer. But it discovered that beneath the foundations in impact via July 1, 2025, the swimmer demonstrated “that she was eligible for competition in the female category.”

U.S. Masters Swimming didn’t title the swimmer, although controversy did come up over a swimmer who gained 5 gold medals at U.S. Masters Spring Nationals in San Antonio. U.S. Masters Swimming clarified that an interim eligibility coverage was applied July 1, which “allows for recognition in the female competition category based on sex assigned at birth, but allows for participation in the female category (as defined in the policy) based on gender identity.” (Details of the interim policy are available here.)

The location of the meet has turned it into a difficulty for politicians and political commentators. Friday’s report is extra consequential to U.S. Masters Swimming, which has confronted criticism from the surface and from inside its personal membership, in addition to lawsuits by politicians.

The Review Panel was initiated by one other swimmer. (Under USMS coverage, “swimmers in the same gender category, same age group, and having participated in the same event during the same season may request an eligibility review of another swimmer at any time before the times submission deadline for that season.”) The swimmer in query introduced detailed data to the panel together with documentation, a private assertion, and voluntary medical documentation to “corroborate her eligibility for the female category.”

From the U.S. Masters Swimming launch:

Under the USMS Eligibility Review Procedures in place till July 1, 2025, the swimmer whose eligibility was challenged submitted documentation to the Eligibility Review Panel concerning her eligibility to take part within the feminine competitors class and for official types of recognition, together with documentation reflecting her intercourse assigned at delivery and her gender identification, together with a delivery certificates, passport, and U.S. citizenship paperwork. The Eligibility Review Panel additionally met with the swimmer and her counsel and reviewed a private assertion she submitted. The paperwork the swimmer submitted all display that she was assigned the feminine intercourse at delivery and that she identifies as feminine, though she swam within the male class at USMS occasions 2002-2004. Even although it was not required, the swimmer voluntarily supplied previous and present medical documentation corroborating the data contained within the paperwork she submitted and corroborating her eligibility within the feminine class.  

In gentle of these information, the panel concluded that the swimmer was eligible to swim as a feminine.

“We appreciate our members’ patience during this thorough review process as the complexities of the matter were exacerbated by the outside legal and media attention received,” the assertion learn. “USMS also wants to encourage our members to treat each other with dignity, kindness, and respect as outlined in the USMS code of conduct.”

Edit: An earlier model of this story incorrectly characterised the character of the case. The article has been corrected. Swimming World apologizes for the error.