By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
Swim clubs in Washington have been having trouble sanctioning meets due to clashing policies between the state and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
While the USOPC’s competition category policy, which USA Swimming follows, aligns with the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump in February, the issue reportedly being run into deals with Washington state and specifically King County law.
Washington state law prohibits discrimination on the basis of “gender identity or expression,” while King County’s code explicitly prohibits discrimination in “places of public accommodation” (including pools) on the basis of gender identity or expression.
The Weyerhaeuser Aquatic Center, a public facility in Federal Way, Wash., that has hosted several high-level meets over the years, is a public facility and has recently been facing this issue–it’s restricted from hosting a meet under a discriminatory policy.
The USOPC policy adopted by USA Swimming in September restricts transgender women or girls from competing in the women’s category, only allowing cisgender women.
The conflict highlights the state-by-state nature of U.S. policy and the fact that national governing bodies like USA Swimming are not government entities. When those rulebooks don’t align, events can fall into a gray area.
The Weyerhaeuser Aquatic Center is scheduled to host one of the 2026 Speedo Sectionals meets this coming March.
Although the law may prevent the facility (and likely others) from sanctioning an event, there may be a workaround if organizers pivot to hosting meets as an “observed” or “approved” competition rather than a “sanctioned” meet.
At sanctioned meets, all USA Swimming policies must be observed, and the national governing body runs the whole operation. The rules at “observed” and “approved” meets are a bit looser. They’re usually run by a different organization, but USA Swimming recognizes the results as legitimate. Functionally, for the relevance of times being official, they’re more or less the same, which may be the short-term fix here.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: State Law/USOPC Policy Clash Leads To Difficulty Sanctioning Meets In Washington
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