EXCLUSIVE: US Masters Swimming (USMS), a competitive swimming membership organization with over 60,000 adult swimmers, was thrown into national controvers last week after reports emerged that a trans swimming won five women’s events.

USMS confirmed to Pakinomist Digital that it is currently making an eligibility review in response to a request from a competitor at the meeting.

Louisiana woman and long -term swimmer Wendy Enderle said she filed the request for an eligibility review after finding out that one of the competitors she has been exposed to for years was transgender via a news article dating from last week’s incident.

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“I feel betrayed. Plain and simple,” Enderle told Pakinomist Digital.

Enderle recently competed against the trans athlete at USMS Spring National Championship in San Antonio 26-27. April. Transleten, Ana Caldas, won gold in five races, including in 50- and 100-yard freestyle aged 45-49 against Enderle.

Enderle first saw Calda’s personally in February 2024 at the World Aquatics Masters World Championships Women’s 50m Freestyle in Doha, Qatar. Enderle ended with a time of 29.19, while Caldas ended in 27.91.

However, Enderle said she did not directly introduce herself to Caldas until a USMS meets in Little Rock, Arkansas, in January. After meeting Caldas noticed the ending athlete’s muscles and height, but still assumed Caldas was biologically female.

“I knew there was something, but I didn’t know what, I had no idea she was a trans woman until this last Wednesday after the meeting,” Enderle said. “I was shocked … It makes me worried, it makes me mad.”

Enderle submitted his request for an eligibility notification against Caldas last week. One of the main goals of this decision is to prevent Caldas from competing in this year’s World Aquatics Masters World Cups in Singapore.

“I don’t think it’s true that she competed in the women’s category, and I don’t think she should compete in the women’s category in Singapore,” Enderle said.

“I’m not trying to keep Ana. I’m not trying to prevent anyone from competing. I have nothing against transgender people. I have nothing against LHBTQ -Individuals. But I believe in justice in sports and I don’t think men should join women’s sports. I don’t think it’s fair.”

Fellow USMS Women’s swimmer Angie Griffin also swam with Caldas last week without knowledge of Caldas’ birth gender.

The shock by learning the news of Caldas made Griffin write a formal letter of complaint to USMS. The letter also requested the organization to “re -evaluate” the recent Spring National Championship and completely review its current gender eligibility policy.

Griffin competed against Caldas for three races and ended behind the trans athlete in the 50-yard breast and 100-yard individual medley.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about how the integrity of individual competition had been compromised, why don’t USMS follow the same competitive standards as the rest of the world and NCAA? Why are athletes asked to accept less transparency and justice?” Griffin told Pakinomist digital “I paid my entry fees, airline ticket and the hotel, trusting that I would compete in a women’s division defined by biological sex. I deserved to know the truth before I stepped on blocks.”

Griffin’s team beat Caldas’ team in the women’s 45+ 200 free baton, but Griffin still went away from the incident that felt worried.

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“To reflect on the meeting that one highlight to win the relay did not delete the greater concern,” Griffin said.

While USMS is currently making an eligibility review based on the San Antonio meeting, the organization admitted that it has never disqualified a swimmer based on gender identity.

“USMS has not disqualified a swimmer from official recognition based on gender eligibility after an event,” the organization told Pakinomist Digital.

USMS policy for gender eligibility says that swimmers who identify themselves as a transcend are not obliged to provide documentation of justification to participate until a request for review has been made. The organization still said that confirmation of documentation is rare.

“If a request for review is submitted, our eligibility panel – composed of member leaders and subject experts – follows a structured, confidential process of deciding whether the athlete meets the criteria for official recognition. This includes review of documentation provided by the swimmer in our published policy,” USMS said.

“Cases that require documentation are extremely rare and we follow a structured process in accordance with our published rules and politics. This protects athlete for athletes and ensures that the same standard applies to any swimmer.”

USMS policy allows transsexual swimmers to participate in the gender competition category, where they identify, and they may also be recognized for results whose certain conditions are met.

One of the two conditions requires that a hormone therapy is properly administered continuously and uninterrupted in a verifiable manner in no less than a year. The second state is proof of testosterone serum levels measured over the last twelve months below five nmol/l (144.25 ng/dl).

Trans swimmers who do not meet these requirements can still participate in the female category, but their times are removed from the results submitted and they are not eligible for official times, places, points, items, top 10 or other forms of official recognition.