Fairness in Sport is Not Optional: Why USMS Needs to Change Transgender Policy
Guest Editorial
By Angie Griffin
Every morning before the sun comes up, I pull on my swimsuit, lace up my work boots, and head to the pool. I wear a swim cap before work and a hard hat on the job. As a female utility worker, my days are long, physical, and unpredictable—but I still carve out time to train for U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS) competitions.
Training for Nationals while working full-time isn’t glamorous. It’s early mornings, sore muscles, and paying out-of-pocket for meets, hotels, and travel—with no sponsors, no prize money, and no financial support. You do it for the love of sport, the discipline, and the dream.
That’s why what happened at the 2025 USMS Spring SCY Nationals in San Antonio hit so hard—for me and for every woman in my age group who lost medals and top-10 rankings. I placed second in the women’s 45–49 breaststroke—not to another biological woman, but to a transgender woman. There were whispers, physiological differences noticed, and visible discomfort, but no communication from USMS. It wasn’t until after the meet did several reliable sources confirm the athlete’s gender identity.
By then, the damage was done.
This Isn’t About One Athlete—It’s About the System
The athlete in question, who previously competed as a man from 2002 to 2004, transitioned well after male puberty. That matters. Male puberty results in permanent physiological advantages such as larger lung capacity, greater muscle mass, and stronger bones—advantages that persist even after years of hormone suppression (Hilton & Lundberg, 2021; Harper et al., 2021).
World Aquatics (formerly FINA) sets a testosterone threshold of 2.5 nmol/L for transgender women. USMS allows up to 5 nmol/L. In contrast, biological women typically range from 0.1 to 2.4 nmol/L (Mayo Clinic, 2022). While USA Swimming requires 36 months of hormone therapy, USMS requires only 12. World Aquatics, meanwhile, bars any athlete who has experienced male puberty from competing in the women’s category at all.
Even more troubling, biological women are prohibited from using therapeutic testosterone due to its classification as a performance-enhancing drug. Transgender women, however, can compete with testosterone levels well above what any biological woman is allowed. That’s not equality—it’s a double standard.
Fairness and Inclusion Are Not Mutually Exclusive
Let me be clear: I support inclusion. Everyone deserves the opportunity to participate in sport, to find belonging, and to pursue excellence. But inclusion cannot come at the cost of fairness.
There is a better path forward. The Paralympic Games offer a proven model. In those competitions, athletes with different disabilities are placed in separate classifications to ensure equitable competition. A blind swimmer does not race against an athlete missing a limb. They may compete in the same heat, but results are sorted by classification. That’s not exclusion—it’s thoughtful inclusion grounded in physical reality.
Why not apply a similar framework to gender categories? Transgender athletes could race in the same events but be ranked in a distinct classification that honors both inclusion and fairness. Everyone keeps a lane. But we respect what makes each athlete’s journey—and biology—different.
My Line in the Sand
Coming in second to a biological male at a national championship is not fair. That’s not hate. That’s my new reality.
Unless USMS adopts evidence-based policies aligned with international standards, I will not renew my membership. Many women have already stepped away. I urge others—male and female—who believe in fair competition to speak up or step back until real reform happens.
This isn’t about exclusion. It’s about honesty, transparency, and fairness. We can protect women’s sports and include transgender athletes—if we are willing to create thoughtful, science-driven policies. We owe it to every athlete, of every identity, to get this right.
We all deserve a lane.
But the race must be fair.
About the Author
Angie Griffin is a nationally ranked U.S. Masters Swimming competitor and full-time utility worker. She trains before and after long shifts, driven by a lifelong love of sport and a commitment to fairness in competition.
References
- Hilton, E. N., & Lundberg, T. R. (2021). *Transgender Women in the Female Category of Sport: Perspectives on Testosterone Suppression and Performance Advantage.* Sports Medicine, 51(2), 199–214. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-020-01389-3
- Harper, J., et al. (2021). *How Does Hormone Transition in Transgender Women Change Body Composition, Muscle Strength and Hemoglobin?* British Journal of Sports Medicine, 55(15), 865–872. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2020-103106
- Mayo Clinic. (2022). *Testosterone Levels: What’s Normal?* https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/testosterone-test/about/pac-20384835
- World Aquatics. (2022). *Policy on Eligibility for the Men’s and Women’s Competition Categories.*
- USA Swimming. (2021). *Elite Athlete Inclusion Policy.*
- U.S. Masters Swimming. (2023). *Transgender Swimmer Inclusion Policy.*
All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.
Well said.
I agree completely. I swim masters and will not renew my membership if this policy is not discontinued. I have written a similar letter to USMS and have requested a response. I have heard nothing. Sadly, I don’t expect to.
I totally agree.
“Anna” is a very good swimmer, could easily be in the top ten at USMS Nationals swimming as a male. That being said the best 47-year-old female swimmer is almost 3 seconds faster in the 50 breaststroke and over 8 seconds faster in the 100. Very fast in the 50 free too but I don’t follow those times.
The huge problem I see is “Anna” is part of the USMS national leadership structure. “Anna’ is on the Sprots Medicine Committee which probably is steering the actual leaders.
What can ordinary swimmers do to correct this issue? First of all, Masters swimmer VOTE and we have bank accounts, things politicians care about. As an extreme measure since the USMS leadership is not complying with President Trumps attempts to fairness in sports, he could remove the tax status as a 501C organization.
Angie, you are the real national Champion, and I honor you.
I swam 20-year Masters swimming and had just one championship in the 50-yard breaststroke at the age of 49. I know how hard it is to train and how much hopes and dreams occur for us who are competitive swimmers.
Please does not spread hate, bigotry, transphobia and misinformation. Please does not. We is not need bigotry and transphobia on SwimmingWorldMagazine/
What is the argument for allowing biological males to compete against cis-girls? Sports and spaces are segregated for modesty and fairness, why are we making an exception for males with gender dystrophia?
This is NOT about hate this is about fairness in Woman’s sport. If you were born a male you are a male. You know it and I know it.
It’s not about trans people at all. The problem is men. Women should not have to compete against any men of any gender identity, just like the 44-year-old should not have to compete against 25 year olds, even if those 25-year olds believe themselves to be older and wiser than their years.
Exactly! Beliefs are not facts.
Is it true that transgender swimmer Ana Caldas is on the USMS Sports Medicine Committee? I am interested in verifying this information. What’s at stake is that Ana Caldas -with their medical background- might have had a say in the ridiculously lax hormone policy from which they benefit. Where can one access USMS committee member and leadership names?
Per recent USMS committee meeting minutes, AC is not a current member.
Angie makes some very real points. USMS has face uncomfortable challenges in the past and like it or not this maybe one those situations. Thoughtful and honest consideration is needed. Inclusion and fairness need not be mutually exclusive.
Angie makes excellent points. I believe inclusion is absolutely necessary; however, there should not be a genetic disadvantage to any athlete in any sport. Pools have ample lanes for inclusion. We need to use all of the lanes.
Turning this into a political talking point for purposes of denigrating the transgender population is not appropriate. Suggesting the removal of the 501C tax status from the USMS is not a solution, it is to punish the organization for allowing inclusion.
Nobody should be excluded from swimming competitively and nobody should come in 2nd place due to biological disadvantage.
I am wrong Ana appears to NOT be currently on the Sports Medicine Committee. Name: Ana C Caldas
LMSC: San Diego – Imperial
Most Recent Club: UC44
Swimming Achievements for Ana C Caldas:
Meet results for Ana C Caldas (364 swims)
Top Ten achievements (144 individual, 36 relay)
All-American Honors (7 years pool individual, 5 years pool relay)
All-Star Honors (3 years pool)
USMS Records
(pool individual: 1 currently held, 6 lifetime ,
pool relay: 2 currently held, 4 lifetime records)
USMS Service & Recognition for Ana C Caldas:
Previous USMS National Committee Positions Held:
Sports Medicine and Science Committee Member 2011 – 2012
Oh, when she was a he?
He is still a he. Humans cannot change sex. But “Anna” raced as his biological sex of male when he was in the 25-29 men’s age group, and his name is Hugo Caldas.
Note 7 years All American which means the fasted time that year in that age group. Also 3 years of All Star Honors. So this has been going on for a long time. Masters swimming used to be about fairness, what if I had lied about my age and listed myself as 10 years older, I couple have been All American many times more than I did and could have won a whole lot of National Championships.
My goals every year were to be top ten in my age group as well as the next older age group and the next younger age group. When I accomplished that I felt good about myself and the work I put in both in the pool and the gym. I know many swimmers who cheated, I remember swimming next to one very good breaststroke who took 2 complete underwater strokes off the start, gaining almost a full body length over me.
This has been going on since 2009 as Hannah Caldas. I am wondering why none of the people I knew when I was LMSC Chairman have any comments. I have always had a firm belief and always spoke up against unfair practices.
why were the comments taken off on facebook?
While some comments were constructive, others were littered with inappropriate remarks that will not be tolerated. There is a way to have a respectful conversation and debate, and some individuals simply could not abide by that approach.
agreed, thank you!
I’m sorry, but this person needs to chill out, live and let live. I love masters swimming, but this is not the Olympics. The trans swimmer is not taking away anyone else’s opportunity to compete, not taking away anyone’s college scholarships, not stealing anyone’s sponsorship money. She was there for the same reason as everyone else: to compete and have fun.
I have won masters nationals in my age group before and, believe me, no one was banging down my door to give me money or anything else. What’s more, half the women in that age group and a few others are on HRT, which is banned by WADA because the drugs are performance-enhancing. Whatever. We ultimately compete against ourselves.
Stop the hatred, and stop focusing on this one minor issue while literally all our other rights as women are stolen from us while you’re not paying attention.
You grant trans females have an unfair advantage. Your argument is if there aren’t gold medals, sponsorships or scholarships at stake it doesn’t matter. Cis females at all levels are saying it is unequitable for them and not a “minor” issue.
Right! And the few women who say “I don’t mind” cannot speak for the rest of us. We do mind.
I mind. XY is not XX. Feelings are not facts.
Every time I see an argument about sports at a club, college or elite level, when it’s not just someone who’s just a complete bigot, it’s always about the women who lost out on the college scholarship, or some other tangible loss. Here there is literally no tangible loss to the other competitors. If someone else touches the wall before you, it really doesn’t impact your life at all. And if you define your life as whether or not you win some random swim race, maybe it’s your own life you need to re-examine. On the other hand, trans people face discrimination in almost every aspect of their lives. Why not be kind and inclusive whenever possible. It would be different if she was taking something away from someone else. But she’s not.
As for not being “fair” as I said, so many of the women in that age group are on HRT, which is not fair to everyone else who’s swimming. Shall we exclude them too?
If you don’t give a hoot you don’t give a hoot.
He is certainly taking something from the other women. He is taking a place away from them! Angie worked hard and should have been first in the event that “Anna” won. Every other woman in that event lost a place to the male “Anna”. HRT is hormone replacement therapy, it is replacing a level of female hormones lost to age. “Anna” is adding a female hormone to pretend to be a woman. A woman is not a hormone level, a woman is an adult human female, which “Anna” is not.
Fair and inclusive? There is nothing about men swimming against women that’s fair..your argument is a “feel good” why pick on them argument that is totally hypocritical, they are the ones being unfair..as for inclusivity they are included but not for being something they are not, a woman…stop the excuses and pay attention when there is discrimination it’s not the trans athletes being discriminated against..so hypocritical to call out a woman for discrimination when she is the one being discriminated against …
thank you for this! i had posted a similar comment on Facebook but they were taken down 🙂 completely agree, let s just have fun and be inclusive
The reason for all categories, including age categories, is to EXCLUDE. That’s how sports become fair.
I tend to personally agree with you — and I competed in the same age group at this meet as Angie and Ana. It really doesn’t make any difference to me that I was bumped down a place. This is for fun. It is truly low stakes. I am disgusted that Ana’s inclusion has been platformed by people who definitely have never given a rip about masters swimming to make their often vile arguments about trans women.
That said, I can understand Angie’s points and see it this way: I literally watched a 60-something competitor at this meet get deflated when an official DQd her after the 200 IM. If these meets have officials monitoring for things like illegal turns or relay false starts that might give the slightest advantage, it stands to reason USMS should acknowledge that trans women have physical advantages. They can swim with and next to those of us born female, but should probably be scored separately.
It’s not a problem that you don’t care ..in fact that’s fine you don’t care but I would bet the overwhelming majority do care and that has been the case for years…title 9 has been decimated by some of the very people who argued for it in the first place ..and why? Because some confused individuals think it’s a fair fight when every bit of real science says it’s not a level playing field? Take some of the guidelines used by US swimming and stop this nonsense
I quit USA cycling after losing podiums to biological males racing in the women’s categories (I was a Category 1 racer competing a lot of times with professionals. However when a bio male comes and wins all the primes and overalls in the local club races as well as the local ‘pro racing series’ sometimes by solo efforts minutes ahead, it is less than ‘fun’ or ‘competitive’).
I swim with a Masters group for fun and was thinking of doing some meets for “fun”. It is not “fun” if you know the competition is cheating whether you are competing for 1st, last, or somewhere in between. That defeats the purpose of competition. If USMS goes the way of USAC, their womens numbers will keep dwindling, and womens racing will continue to be the joke that it is (slower times, fewer category opportunities–cycling especially). USAC has their board of directors HEAVILY influenced by pro-trans coaches and advisors who profit from men beating women so that is highly unlikely to change. Please dont let USMS go that way…it’s a heckuva lot easier to see a man in a womens bathing suit make a mockery out of the sport. They disguise it a ‘smidgen’ better in cycling….
it isn’t cheating, they are allowed to be there. and numbers aren’t dwindling because of that, it’s not like plenty of men will become trans women just to win masters medals, we are talking about a handful of people, it’s not taking anything away, just giving back in my opinion
It doesn’t matter why they do it. They’re male, and they don’t belong there. Women don’t want them there – any of them. We don’t say about performance-enhacing drug users, Oh well, there aren’t very many. The policy needs to change to respect half the population: women.
Good point!
That’s an unbelievable statement…and if you want to you should swim against them as a sign of suooort in the seperate category that’s created for them
Congratulations Angie on your great swim at Nationals. You are a champion! Your comments took courage and are honest and true. When I first heard this story i was frankly shocked. I thought we were over this. So many people are unaware. USMS needs to step up and correct this wrong. Now!
I’m very disappointed that USMS operates from the dictates of an activist agenda and one person’s feelings and abandons facts and fairness of competition for women. Why would a young woman wish to compete in their adult years when USMS disrepects women and does not value fairness and women’s rights?
Exactly. This is about prioritizing male feelings over women’s right to fair competition. Men get fair competition; why shouldn’t we? Men can swim with the men. Male leaders making these decisions need to listen to women.
Agreed, Lisa and Mariah.
And THANK YOU, Angie. It is the epitome of sexism to DENY the existence of the female sex that EXCLUDES male biology.
I know from experience how much training goes into becoming an elite athlete. And Angie did the training and the life juggling, only to be in the unprotected position of having it stolen from her by a male pretending to be a female in order to TAKE. Sounds like standard abuse to me.
“Biology is NOT Bigotry”
Their agenda is really explained in the book The Trans Train. LINKED here: The Trans Train: A Parent’s Perspective on Transgender Medicalization and Ideology: Shultz, Lisa: 9780998650982: Amazon.com: Books
Thanks, Joanna. If only trans-identified males would see this from the female-athlete perspective. Those who insist on competing against us want to be called women, and want to be “affirmed” as women in our locker rooms as well as our sports, but don’t seem to have any alliance with or empathy for actual women. Can’t wait to read that book; thanks.
From my perspective, a national champion has put in the work. Training diligence (in the water and the gym), perfecting technique, restrictive dieting, much sacrifice and mental preparedness. This high level focus and diligence is necessary for a number of years. It is unfair to see, at elite competition, a person come in and obtain a championship without doing the same intensive amount of work as the second place finisher. They obtain that championship because their physical make up is entirely different, you can see the technique is far superior in the second place finisher, than the champion. As a person who strives as a coach to aim for perfection in technique, I find this disturbing to witness in elite competition. Bravo to the second place, true CHAMPION.
Hugo Caldas is a male racing as “Anna”. Humans cannot change sex, so Hugo can never be a woman, no matter how long he grows his hair, how many drugs he takes, or what body parts he may grow or remove. A woman is an adult human female. A woman is not a hormone level, even though the USMS rules allow a male to race as a woman if he can prove he lowered his testosterone below a certain level for 12 months. Has “Anna” met that requirement? USMS has not verified if he has met that requirement. The rule is unfair and should be changed, at least to adhere to the World Aquatics Masters rule that a male who has gone through puberty can not race as a woman. “Anna” illegally raced as a woman in the 2024 DoHa WA Championships, and should race as exhibition or in the men’s category in USMS. Having sex and age categories is not exclusive, it is fair!
So, lets try to remember the vision and mission of USMS swimming. It is not to support people winning national titles. They are not just haphazardly making rules being influced so 1 person can win national titles. I encourage you to look at some of the other female swimmers who hold the national records and have won nationals. You may find that if they show up, they win. Its likely because they were an olympic swimmer or near olympic swimmer in the past. Many masters swimmers work hard to juggle all of lifes demands and training to compete at our best and compete at nationals for the experience and PB. Perhaps having someone of high caliber swimming could motivate one to have their personal best because, yea, there is a little unfairness in life and the transgender issue that is so upsetting to so many really is not the issue. It is that someone likely coming in expected to win and didn’t because of who showed up to compete that day and may have let it get in their head, or had a bad day, or just got beat by another swimmer. Lets work together to make the sport better and if you don’t like the rules, become involved and help create the sport you envision.
Fairness and inclusion cannot be achieved in the same competition category, so they ARE mutually exclusive. We need to stop pretending that they’re not. There is no way to include transgender women in women’s competition and still be fair. Transgender women ARE included in the men’s competition category, so no one is being eliminated from the sport. What is a woman? Courts and sports figure it out.
I suspect I agree with Angie but I’m a bit tired of this website only ever presenting one side of this argument. Very biased – and while I probably agree with the bias, swimming world refusing to even propose an alternative viewpoint seems very suspect. This is a swimming blog, not a political one. If you’re going to introduce politics, please present both sides.
We have offered the chance for a counterpoint and will continue to offer that option.
when we counterpoint the issue though there are tons of people that put us down and are mean about it, even if are arguments are presented nicely and in a fair manner, it is not tempting to write an article with so many adverse to differing opinions