The World Swimming Federation announced Wednesday that the open category that was supposed to begin for the first time at the Swimming World Cup in Berlin this weekend (Oct. 6-8) for transgender swimmers has been canceled. According to World Aquatics, the official reason is the small number of participants for the event, but apparently the conditions they set for these swimmers and the little organizing time since the announcement, have led to the fact that after all the noise, complaints and committees that have been established, history will have to wait for the next opportunity.
The Open Category was supposed to give transgender athletes a chance to compete on the elite stage after they were effectively banned from women's events by the Congressional governing body last year. The open category was to include 50- and 100-meter swims across all styles, directly from the final stage. To be eligible to compete, swimmers must be affiliated with a national federation and given the flexibility to participate individually for the club, national team or as members of the national association.
There will be a new category for transgender athletes at the upcoming World Swimming Championships in Berlin.https://t.co/fDTKrCts0m
— DW News (@dwnews) October 3, 2023
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Berlin, Germany, is the first of three stops in the coming month of the World Cup tour, when the competition will take place at the Veldrum Arena in the city, as the European Swimming Championships were held several years ago, with other events also planned in Athens and Budapest. In the same competitions, Israel's top Olympic swimmers Anastasia Gorbenko are also scheduled to participate.
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