AIDA Belgium — Official Position on the Participation of Trans Athletes in National Freediving Competitions

At a time when the United States, under the Trump administration, is experiencing a significant rollback in human rights, scientific research, education, migration policies, racial equality and gender equality, a new announcement was recently made: the International Olympic Committee has decided to reintroduce chromosomal testing for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. This decision effectively bans trans athletes from women’s events.

This regression reflects a broader global political climate in which certain governments seek to reduce humanity to a binary, polarized and essentialist vision.

In the US, hese setbacks are tangible and far-reaching:

• Dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in education, research and public institutions

• Redefinition of racial discrimination, promoting a reversed narrative where minorities are viewed with suspicion and majority populations are portrayed as victims

• Drastic cuts in scientific research funding, notably through reductions in indirect costs for NIH-funded projects, jeopardizing decades of progress

• Weakening of protections for migrants, racialized communities and LGBTQIA+ individuals

• Questioning of advances in sociology, social sciences and life sciences

  
  

AIDA Belgium’s position

In this context, AIDA Belgium chooses a different path.

We choose openness, nuance, science, humanity. We choose to be forward-thinking.

Freediving: a unique athletic environment

Water does not distinguish between chromosomes, administrative categories or life stories. It welcomes bodies without classifying, ranking or judging them.

In water, differences fade. Freediving is a sport where:

• fluidity prevails over strength

• slowness becomes a strength

• inner control outweighs physical morphology

  
  

It is a discipline where women already achieve performances close to those of men, both in pool and depth. It is also a space where an athlete such as Heike Schwerdtner, of smaller stature, regularly surpasses younger and physically larger male athletes, across age categories.

Water reveals a simple truth: gender is not a reliable indicator of performance.

Scientific evidence

Leading scientific studies are clear: after 24 to 36 months of feminizing hormone therapy, trans women no longer retain any significant physiological advantage compared to cis women in key performance-related parameters, including:

• muscle mass

• maximal strength

• hemoglobin

• VO₂ max

• bone density

• anaerobic capacity

  
  

Research by Cheung et al. (2024) and Sieczkowska et al. (2026) confirms these findings at scale. The remaining variations are comparable to those observed among cis women themselves, influenced by genetics, training, body history and morphology. In other words, differences between trans and cis women are neither greater nor more atypical than those already present within the female category.

European legal framework

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled clearly: Member States must issue identity documents consistent with a person’s lived gender when it has been legally recognized in another Member State.

This means that in Europe:

• It is no longer possible to require disclosure of sex assigned at birth

• It is no longer possible to administratively distinguish between cis and trans women

• Genetic testing would be unethical, disproportionate and scientifically unjustified

AIDA Belgium affirms that:

• In Belgium, trans athletes must be allowed to participate in national freediving competitions in the category corresponding to their gender

• Freediving is a sport where sex-based performance differences are minimal

• Technique, relaxation and mental control are the primary performance factors

• Chromosomal testing is incompatible with ethics, science and European law

• Inclusion is not a threat, but an opportunity to enrich our sporting community

  
  

We align with research in social sciences and sports sciences showing that exclusionary policies—often justified in the name of fairness—reproduce dynamics of power, sexism, racism and control over bodies. They do not protect sport. They confine it within an outdated model inherited from another era. An inclusive, fair and respectful sporting future is possible. One that does not reproduce the observation made by Canadian researchers in 2020: “You are tolerated, but not accepted.” (Forgues et al.)

From Belgium, at the heart of Europe, we call on European sports federations to follow this path of inclusion, justice and dignity.

We believe that:

• Humanity is strengthened by its differences;

• Diversity is an asset;

• Progress can only happen through openness;

• Sport must be a space of freedom, not control.

  
  

We aim to allow all bodies, all stories, all identities, all backgrounds, all beliefs, all sexual orientations, all ages and all morphologies to thrive within the aquatic environment.

Because in the water, we return to what we truly are: human beings breathing together, united by one breath, one silence, one depth.

References

• France 24 — Return of sex testing at the IOC (2026)

• France 24 — CJEU ruling on gender identity (2026)

• “Trans Identity & Sport” Report (2024), Aix-Marseille University

• Cheung et al., Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (2024)

• Sieczkowska et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine (2026)