Diana Nyad Changed Her Views On Inclusion Of Trans Athletes

Diana Nyad is swimming to a different tune when it comes to transgender athletes.

Back in 2022, the out lesbian swimmer penned an op-ed for The Washington Postsharing her stance on the topic. She wrote that, though she agreed that trans women were undoubtedly women, the “physical disparity” between trans women athletes who have “gone through male puberty” compared to cis women “remains too great for true equal performance potential.”

At the time, Nyad’s comments came following the controversy surrounding then-collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas, who made history as the first openly trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship.

Fortunately, Nyad is changing her views on trans inclusion.

“I have come to understand that the science is far more complex than I thought,” she told Out. “There are clearly more educated experts than I who are creating policy to ensure that elite sports are both fair and inclusive of all women. I regret weighing in on that conversation and any harm I may have caused.”

Nyad’s statements come shortly after Netflix’s Nyadbiopic on the swimmer, which stars Annette Bening in the titular role and Jodie Foster as her coach. Nyad was the first person to attempt a swim from Cuba to Florida with no shark cage, as well as swimming around Manhattan in record time and for swimming from Bimini in the Bahamas to Florida in 1979.

“I am today firmly on the side of inclusion,” Nyad, now 74, said. “Trans women athletes deserve our utmost respect. I stand with them in the world of sports and in the fight for full equality for all trans people. We are all sisters and siblings under the blue sky, and we should all have equal opportunities to play the sports we choose, the sports we love.”