The Court docket of Arbitration for Sport’s panel of three judges dismissed Lia Thomas’ request for arbitration with the World Aquatics governing physique, in a ruling launched on Wednesday; Thomas wished to overturn guidelines authorized in 2022 that she felt had been ‘invalid, illegal and discriminatory’
Final Up to date: 12/06/24 10:45pm
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas failed in her problem towards guidelines that cease her from competing in elite ladies’s races
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has failed in her problem towards guidelines that cease her from competing in elite ladies’s races.
The Court docket of Arbitration for Sport’s panel of three judges dismissed Thomas’ request for arbitration with the World Aquatics governing physique, in a ruling launched on Wednesday.
World Aquatics banned transgender ladies who’ve been by male puberty from competing in ladies’s races. It additionally created an ‘open’ class for which transgender athletes could be eligible.
Thomas had requested the sports activities court docket in Switzerland to overturn the principles authorized in 2022 that she felt had been ‘invalid, illegal and discriminatory’.
Thomas swam for the College of Pennsylvania and received an NCAA title in meets which might be outdoors the World Aquatics aggressive system.
The world swim physique argued to CAS that Thomas was not a member of its member federation USA Swimming when the authorized case was began. She additionally had not competed in feminine occasions “for the purpose of qualification or selection” for World Aquatics competitions, such because the Olympics or world championships.
“The panel concludes that she lacks standing to challenge the policy and the operational requirements in the framework of the present proceeding,” the court docket mentioned in its ruling.
In January the ruling mentioned, USA Swimming granted her request for “self-identity verification” as a part of its coverage on athlete inclusion.
The judges mentioned USA Swimming had no authority “to modify such scope of application” of the world governing physique’s guidelines.
World Aquatics mentioned it welcomed the CAS determination in a case “we believe is a major step forward in our efforts to protect women’s sport”.
“World Aquatics is dedicated to fostering an environment that promotes fairness, respect, and equal opportunities for athletes of all genders and we reaffirm this pledge,” the governing physique primarily based in Lausanne mentioned in a press release.
Swimming’s coverage on transgender athletes was adopted by different top-tier Olympic sports activities, observe and area, then biking, in excluding from ladies’s occasions those that have doubtlessly gained lasting bodily benefits from male puberty.
The Worldwide Biking Union famous final yr “it is also impossible to rule out the possibility that biomechanical factors such as the shape and arrangement of the bones in their limbs may constitute a lasting advantage for female transgender athletes”.
Thomas was represented at CAS by Toronto-based Tyr, the authorized agency that has represented two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya.
Semenya is excluded from working in her specialist 800m occasion resulting from World Athletics guidelines on athletes with variations in intercourse growth who’ve elevated ranges of testosterone.
Thomas’s lawyer, Carlos Sayao, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark concerning the CAS determination.
The CAS judges declined World Aquatics request for Thomas to pay its authorized prices and different bills incurred within the case.
The judging panel included two of the highest-profile CAS arbitrators: Thomas chosen Richard McLaren, the Canadian investigator who helped show the Russian doping scandal on the Sochi Olympics; and World Aquatics selected Ulrich Haas, a German legislation professor who helped decide circumstances involving Manchester Metropolis and Grand Slam tennis champion Simona Halep.
The CAS panel was chaired by a Paris-based Spanish arbitrator Carmen Nez-Lagos.
