The ruling of the World Swimming Board, FINA, to prevent ...

Swimming's world governing body, Fina, has voted to stop transgender athletes from competing in women's elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty.

Transgender competitors will have to complete their transition by the age of 12 in order to be able to compete in women's competitions, under the policy.

In March, American Lia Thomas became the first known transgender swimmer to win the highest US national college title with victory in the women's 500-yard freestyle. She has since broken records for her university swimming team.

More than 300 college, Team USA and Olympic swimmers signed an open letter in support of Thomas and all transgender and non-binary swimmers, but other athletes and organisations have raised concerns about trans inclusion.