The International Olympics Committee’s new guidelines for female athletes have been criticised by the women’s competition sports community.
The guidelines say women can compete in sports such as gymnastics, swimming, and swimming and diving, but they will have to use an alternate form of competition.
The new rules will make it easier for women to compete in a variety of sports and events, including gymnastics.
But the new guidelines come at a time when women’s swimming has been plagued by a lack of facilities and has had to compete with men’s competitors in the past.
In response, the International Swimming Federation, which runs the Olympics, said the rules were “not designed to address the need for improved facilities for women and will have no impact on the sport’s diversity”.
In a statement, it said it was “disappointed” by the new rules, which are aimed at providing “a high-level of safety for all competitors”.
“We are confident that the changes we have introduced will improve the quality of competition for all athletes, both at the Olympics and beyond,” the statement read.
“The new guidelines are an important first step towards making swimming accessible to all women, but we welcome the IOC’s efforts to address these challenges.”
We remain committed to ensuring that the Olympics is a safe and inclusive event for all, regardless of gender.
“But the International Olympic Committee said the guidelines were “designed to address a range of issues” including a lack on women’s access to swimming pools, training facilities and equipment, and a lack to make facilities accessible to women in certain sporting disciplines.”
Our hope is that the new guidance will help create a level playing field for all sports that benefit women’s participation,” IOC spokesman Tom Dolan said in a statement.”
But we know that women will have many more opportunities in sport than men, and we need to make sure that we are giving women a level of competition and exposure they deserve.
“The IOC said it had also increased the number of women’s sports teams from four to six.
Women’s sports have had to cope with a number of issues in recent years, including a string of scandals in which some female athletes were involved in cheating.
A series of high-profile scandals involving US Olympians Simone Biles and Sarah Paquin have made women’s sport more public and polarised.
The IOC has been criticised for not addressing the problems in a timely manner, including the lack of a gender-specific code for female competitors.
It said that in recent months it had begun to develop gender-neutral rules for Olympic events, and it would begin work to introduce gender-based competitions in 2018.
