Fairness and Sports

FINA's decision to exclude trans-athletes comes solely from a misguided idea about what fairness in sports actually means.

No two people are exactly the same, that is not a radical thought or notion. So when two people compete in any kind of sporting contest it will never be the meeting of equals. In fact, if it was it would be an exceptionally boring contest with no winners. Sport is inherently unequal and unfair. It's why we have underdogs, champions, bright sparks who fade out and long lasting journeymen and women.

So for FINA, the international swimming body, to unveil its new anti trans policy as a win for "fairness" completely misses the point.

Sport is unfair. And that is why it is interesting.

Sport is also inclusive. That is why it is relevant.

Swimming is a simple sport. Be the fastest to complete a race. Already, taller people are at an advantage. As are people with abnormal lung capacity, and people who can carry a lot of muscle in their shoulders. And that's before even getting into the advantage that mentally healthy athletes have, an advantage which in many cases is more important than physical differences.

So already anyone without these advantages is being unfairly excluded. Should FINA put in a policy limiting the height of athletes? Or restrict the sport to those of a certain muscle mass? Or do a mental health exam before allowing athletes to compete? It would make the sport fairer and more even.

Of course they won't and they shouldn't. But why then are they seeking to exclude trans-athletes, a group of people who are just as different in makeup and phisiology as cis athletes? It's because they won't go after the real problem in many professional sports: Wealth and power.

Champion swimmers must be able to train constantly. And they must be able to train from the time they are children. Who has the time and the freedom to do this?

Only the wealthy.

Those with parents or other carers who can afford to take the time to take their kids to swimming practice many nights a week. Or those who can afford a private school to take their kids to swimming practice for them. And those who then have the resources in adulthood to commit full time to swimming, without having to worry about where the money is coming from.

Wealth is the factor making sports like swimming unfair, not the tiny number of trans-athletes. But FINA, and other world sporting bodies, won't do anything about this wealth problem, because the powerful would revolt. And so they instead seek to exclude the powerless and claim it as a win for fairness.

FINA's decision to exlude trans-athletes is reactionary and only increases the unfairness of an already unfair sport. Those who support it have a stake in keeping the sport as unfair as it is, for whatever reason.

Fairness can never come from exclusion. Fairness can never come from the powerful seeking only to retain their privilege.