(LifeSiteNews) — A male “transgender” swimmer who goes by “Hannah” and “Ana” Caldas has been banned from World Aquatics until 2030 and stripped of his competitive placements from June 2022 to October 2024 after refusing to take a sex verification test.
Caldas, born Bruno, was suspended by the Aquatics Integrity Unit this week for failing to meet the criteria to compete with women. World Aquatics changed its gender eligibility criteria in 2022, restricting the participation of men in women’s sports to those who “transitioned” before age 12 or before reaching Tanner Stage 2 of puberty.
🚨 BREAKING: @WorldAquatics has suspended male athlete Hugo “Hannah/Ana” Caldas from women’s swimming for 5 years and revoked his 2024 world titles and record, following his refusal to undergo sex-verification screening to prove eligibility in the women’s category. pic.twitter.com/p2qFBKocx2
— ICONS (@icons_women) October 22, 2025
The 47-year-old transgender swimmer cited the cost and invasiveness of sex verification testing, noting it is not covered by his insurance.
“Chromosomal tests are invasive and expensive procedures,” Caldas said. “My insurance refuses to cover such a test because it is not medically necessary.”
“I understand and accept the consequences,” Caldas added. “But a five-year suspension is the price I have to pay to protect my most intimate medical information.
Caldas sparked an outcry from his opponents earlier this year when he won five gold medals as a “woman” at a U.S. Masters Swimming competition in San Antonio, Texas.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subsequently filed a lawsuit against USMS in July over the unjust competition.
“I’m suing U.S. Masters Swimming for engaging in illegal practices by allowing men to compete in women’s competitions,” Paxton said in an X post. “The organization has cowered to radical activists pushing gender warfare, and this lawsuit will hold USMS accountable for its actions.”
One of Caldas’ competitors, Wendy Enderle, told Fox News she felt “betrayed” when she discovered Caldas was a male.
“I applaud World Aquatics for their decision to uphold fairness and integrity in competitive swimming,” Enderle said regarding the decision to suspend Caldas. “I feel vindicated and validated, not only for myself, but for all girls and women who have been forced to compete against men masquerading as women in our sports.”
An extensive body of research affirms that physiology gives males distinct athletic advantages that cannot be fully negated by hormone suppression.
For example, British triathlon medical experts found in 2022 that “athletes born male retain significant performance advantages in swimming, cycling and running, even after transitioning” and “after testosterone suppression.”
After puberty, these male advantages include up to 50% more muscle mass, 30% greater lung capacity, and 20% higher bone density.
In a 2019 paper published by the Journal of Medical Ethics, New Zealand researchers found that due to these advantages, “the advantage to transwomen (biological men) afforded by the (International Olympic Committee) guidelines is an intolerable unfairness.”
