World swimming's governing body bans transgender athletes who went through male puberty including Lia Thomas from taking part in female races and says it will set up a separate 'open category'

Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who smashed women's records this year, will be banned from competing against women in international events.

FINA, the international federation sports federation for swimming, announced on Sunday that it is changing its policies so that transgender women can only compete in women's races if they have completed their transition by the age of 12.

They will then have to prove to the federation that they have continuously suppressed their testosterone levels since that time.

FINA is now setting up an 'open category' for transgender athletes to compete against one another, and a working group will spend the next six months to determine how that would work.

'We have to protect the rights of our athletes to compete, but we also have to protect competitive fairness at our events, especially the women's category at FINA competitions,' FINA President Husain Al-Musallam said in a statement.

But such a policy would prevent Thomas from competing in the Olympics, which she has expressed her desire for after she smashed women's records and caused an uproar across the United States, with many arguing that she has an unfair physical advantage over her fellow competitors.

SAUCE: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10932219/Elite-swimming-rules-transgender-athletes-went-male-puberty-compete-races.html