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A transgender swimmer won five women’s races at the U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championship last weekend.
The swimmer, 47-year-old Ana Caldas, dominated all five races the athlete competed in, taking gold in the women’s age 45-49 category in five races, including the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke, freestyle and the 100-yard individual medley.
The controversy prompted backlash on social media.
U.S. Masters Swimming has provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing the controversy.
“USMS is aware of allegations regarding the eligibility of a swimmer who competed at our Spring National Championship. We have received an eligibility review request and will follow our formal process to make a determination,” the statement read.
“USMS exists to empower adults to improve their lives through swimming. The health and fitness benefits of swimming are the primary focus of that mission, but we also strive to create a community that values fairness, competition, and inclusion. In that spirit, USMS has had a longstanding policy on transgender swimmers that was created, and periodically reviewed and updated, by relevant member committees with input from subject matter experts. The policy includes procedures to address questions of eligibility.”
U.S. Masters Swimming’s gender eligibility policy allows transgender swimmers to participate in the gender competition category in which they identify, and they may also be recognized for accomplishments, granted certain conditions are met.
One of those conditions requires that a “hormonal therapy appropriate for the female gender has been administered continuously and uninterrupted in a verifiable manner for a sufficient length of time, no less than one year, to minimize gender-related advantages in sport competitions” and subsequent proof of low enough testosterone levels.
In June 2023, Texas passed the Save Women’s Sports Act, which bans trans athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports and only allows students to compete in the gender category listed on their birth certificate. The law only allows schools to recognize changes made to birth certificates that were made to correct a clerical error.
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And just last week, the Texas Senate voted to pass the Texas Women’s Privacy Act by a vote of 20-11. The bill ensures women are safe in their bathrooms, locker rooms, showers and domestic abuse shelters.
President Donald Trump has had an executive order in place since Feb. 5 that requires publicly funded institutions to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls sports.
The topic of trans competitors in women’s swimming specifically became a national controversy in 2022 when former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who previously competed for the school’s men’s swimming team, represented the school at the NCAA championships after transitioning to the women’s category.
UPenn and the NCAA are facing lawsuits over Thomas’ participation in women’s swimming, and the Trump administration has frozen funding to UPenn and declared it has violated Title IX.
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