Thursday 17 November 2022 08:29 AM Ian Thorpe and Katherine Deves in row over trans swimming ban trends now
A stoush has broken out between swimming great Ian Thorpe and high-profile critic of trans activism Katherine Deves over whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in the pool at international level.
Ms Deves took aim at Thorpe over his criticism that international swimming body FINA had 'got it wrong' by banning trans athletes and that it was a 'complicated issue'.
Addressing a tweet directly to Thorpe on Thursday, Ms Deves wrote the issue 'was not complicated'.
Former Liberal candidate Katherine Deves has taken swimming great Ian Thorpe to task over his criticism of the international competitive ban on trans swimmers
Ms Deves said that including trans athletes in female sport would always be unfair
'Women & girls have the right to a female only sports competition,' she wrote.
'Only complicated if you think the inclusion of males is priority. CANNOT have both fair competition & inclusion, you have to pick one.
'CANNOT have both fair competition & inclusion, you have to pick one.'
On Wednesday Thorpe stated he was against FINA's position because he was 'for fairness in sport, but I'm also for equality in sport. And in this instance, they've actually got it wrong.'
'So when you run the numbers, someone who's gone through the tough process and been able to transition to the sex that they determine for themselves is highly unlikely to ever be able to win an Olympic gold medal,' Thorpe said.
Thorpe, seen here winning one of five Olympic medals at the Athens 2004 Games, said that trans swimmers were unlikely to beat biological females for the highest honours
Following the controversy over trans athlete Lia Thomas winning a major US college swimming title FINA moved to ban transgender competitors unless they had transitioned before 12, the age of puberty when testosterone is released in males.
The decision was welcomed by current Australian swimmers and Olympian gold medallists Cate Campbell and Emily Seebohm, who expressed concerns about the 'fairness' of
