Latest news with #USMastersSwimming
Fox News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
US Masters Swimming under investigation after trans athlete takes five women's gold medals at Texas event
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into U.S. Master's Swimming after an event in San Antonio at the end of April saw a biologically male trans competitor win five women's events. Multiple female competitors told Fox News Digital after the meet that they did not even know the trans athlete was a biological male. Now, Paxton's office is taking action, as Texas has a law in place to prohibit trans athletes from competing in women's and girls' sports. "The policy of U.S. Masters Swimming, which allows men to compete in women's events, is reprehensible and could violate Texas's consumer protection laws," Paxton said in an announcement. "Not only is this policy insulting to female athletes, but it also demonstrates deep contempt for women and may violate Texas law. I will fight to stop these unfair policies and never back down from defending the integrity of women's sports." The trans swimmer, 47-year-old Ana Caldas, dominated all five races the athlete competed in, taking gold in the women's age 45-49 category in five races, including the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke, freestyle and the 100-yard individual medley. Louisiana woman and long-time swimmer Wendy Enderle said she filed the request for an eligibility review after finding out that one of the competitors she has faced for years was transgender, via a news article stemming from last week's incident. Now, Enderle is grateful to see Paxton's office taking action. "I was very encouraged by the announcement that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is launching an investigation into U.S. Masters Swimming after allowing a transgender swimmer to unfairly compete against me and fellow female swimmers last month in San Antonio," Enderle told Fox News Digital. Enderle is also hoping that the U.S. Department of Justice will take action as well. President Donald Trump has had an executive order in place since Feb. 5 that requires publicly funded institutions to ban trans athletes from women's and girls sports. USMS is not publicly-funded, however. "I hope that U.S. Masters Swimming quickly adopts a more appropriate and fair policy in line with World Aquatics policy. I also would like to see U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi look into whether U.S. Masters Swimming violates Presidential Executive Order number 14201, Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports, dated February 5, 2025," Enderle added. "I am not a legal expert, but it is my opinion that USMS violates this order as they are an athletic association and sport-specific governing body as referenced in the order. Thank you to the great state of Texas for standing up for women and girls!" In June 2023, Texas passed the Save Women's Sports Act, which bans trans athletes from competing in girls and women's sports and only allows students to compete in the gender category listed on their birth certificate. The law only allows schools to recognize changes made to birth certificates that were made to correct a clerical error. More legislation aimed at protecting females from trans inclusion in sports could soon be signed into law in Texas as well. Earlier this month, the Texas Senate voted to pass the Texas Women's Privacy Act by a vote of 20-11. The bill ensures women are safe in their bathrooms, locker rooms, showers and domestic abuse shelters. Meanwhile, USMS policy allows transgender swimmers to participate in the gender competition category in which they identify, and they may also be recognized for accomplishments, if certain conditions are met. One of the two conditions requires that hormonal therapy appropriately be administered continuously and uninterrupted in a verifiable manner for no less than one year. The other condition is proof of testosterone serum levels measured during the last twelve months being below five nmol/L (144.25 ng/dL). Trans swimmers who do not meet those requirements can still participate in the women's category, but their times are removed from the submitted results, and they are not eligible for official times, places, points, records, Top 10 or other forms of official recognition. Fox News Digital has reached out to USMS on the pending investigation for comment. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Texas AG launches probe into US Masters Swimming after claims biological male was allowed to compete in women's events
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into US Masters Swimming after a trans competitor placed first in five individual events at the Spring National Championship last month. Ana Caldas, 47, won the the top prize in the women's 45-49 age category for the 50 and 100-yard breaststroke, the 50 and 100-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard individual medley in San Antonio, Texas. And Paxton has now said that he'll be investigating whether Caldas' participation in the tournament violated Texas state law. 'The policy of US Masters Swimming, which allows men to compete in women's events, is reprehensible and could violate Texas's consumer protection laws,' Paxton said in a statement first obtained by OutKick. 'Not only is this policy insulting to female athletes, but it also demonstrates deep contempt for women and may violate Texas law. I will fight to stop these unfair policies and never back down from defending the integrity of women's sports.' A source also told OutKick that Paxton will be looking into whether US Masters Swimming is engaged in 'false, deceptive and misleading acts and practices.' Caldas, who has also competed under the name Hannah, formerly competed in male college competitions, and holds numerous national records in the US Masters. Caldas has been competing at the tournament since at least 2010. In this year's tournament, Caldas easily beat the competition in the 50-yard breast stroke, winning by a massive three seconds with a time of 29.74. A spokeswoman for the Independent Council on Women's Sports (ICONS) said the difference in time between Caldas and the other swimmers was 'absolutely insane', adding to Reduxx that Caldas was 'just laughing at these women'. ICONS penned a letter to the US Masters Swimming (USMS) board implying that by allowing Caldas to compete they had violated their own fair play policies. The Daily Mail previously reached out to Caldas for comment. The board stipulates that trans women must have had hormonal therapy, and have testosterone levels below 5 nmol/L in order to compete against biological females. 'Transparency in these matters is critical to maintaining the integrity of the competition and the trust of all USMS athletes,' the ICONS letter stated. 'There is no length of time during which testosterone suppression eliminates male advantage; therefore it should not serve as a guideline permitting men to compete in women's swimming. 'At a minimum, it is USMS's responsibility to enforce its current policy.' ICONS told Reduxx that USMS did not respond to their email flagging concerns. Daily Mail contacted ICONS for confirmation. The Portuguese-born Caldas was just 0.3 seconds away from qualifying for the London Olympics in the 50m freestyle, and has also starred in several other sports. Caldas has previously ranked atop the CrossFit rankings in Portugal, per and also signed with weightlifting team the Baltimore Anthem in 2015. Amid Caldas' recent success in the pool, anti-trans activist Riley Gaines slammed the situation as as 'a real life South Park episode.' 'A man who goes by the name Ana swam five events at the US Masters Swimming National Championship. He won them all,' Gaines fumed on X. Paxton, who is running against incumbent John Cornyn for a Senate seat, has previously focused on the issue of transgender competitors in women's sports. In February, it emerged that he was investigating several school districts in Texas to make sure biological boys were not competing in women's sports. President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year banning transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.
