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Three female mastery swimming athletes (USMS) have spoken against the organization for asking for help with public relations in the middle of a scandal that involves a biological trans competitor who swim against females.
USMS, a competitive swimming membership organization with more than 60,000 adult swimmers, sent an email to their athletes on Tuesday in search of help to defend their public image after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a lawsuit against the organization.
Paxton’s demand comes from an incident in San Antonio at the end of April, when an athlete Trans won five female events.
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“Us You need your help in the record as part of our #SWIMSUitsNotlawsuits recently released campaign, “email told the members.
The email continued requesting that the members “share the correct information when you see or listen to inaccurate statements. Help us by providing facts in response, either on social networks, in the group or in their local community. Let others know the good of our organization.”
The email also referred to “rumors” about the situation.
“This situation began with rumors about the performance of a member in our spring nationals in April in San Antonio. An external organization fed online speculation about the eligibility of this swimmer, which led to the protests of other members and an investigation of the Attorney General in Texas,” added the email.
USMS reviewed its gender eligibility policy in June to restrict competitive recognition that biological men can reach in women’s events, but still allows them to compete with women.
The veteran female swimmer Wendy Enderle, who competed against the trans athlete in April and who previously told Fox Digital that she never learned of the biological sex of the athlete, told Pak Gazette Digital to see email as “an insult.”
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“I think that USMS email is insulting to women who, without knowing it, competed against men and all USM members who support justice in women’s sports, and it seems to me,” Enderle said.
“It also makes me feel that my concerns have been fired and that US teachers are swimming are trying to sweep this under the carpet with a public relations campaign, especially given the fact that they have not yet responded to requests for eligibility review submitted three months ago.
“It makes me feel hurt and sad because I train very hard to be one of the best swimmers in my age group and, like my hard work and the achievements in the pool do not care. I am very disappointed in USM for sending this email deaf to its members.”
Enderle said previously that he requested an eligibility review for the trans athlete but has never received an answer.
The swimmer of women Angie Griffin called USMs for her policies that still allow men to compete in women’s events and not respond to the application for eligibility review.
“USMS is asking members to publicly support the organization through a public relations campaign, while continuing to ignore women who were directly affected,” Griffin said.
“Putting the feelings of an athlete above the rights of many to fair competition was a mistake, and it has not yet been recognized. We are not asking much, just an answer. Those of us who take the time to present formal protests deserve to be taken seriously. A simple answer would be very useful towards the confidence of trust.
“I appreciate that USMS has since reviewed its eligibility policy. That is a step in the right direction. But real responsibility means recognizing the past damage, not rewriting the history or changing guilt. Until that happens, ask us to be the public voice that defends the organization feels premature and unfair.”
Female swimmer Cissy Cochran told Pak Gazette Digital to refuse to compete at any USMS event after receiving email.
“USMS has now sent an email asking all members to participate in a public relations campaign to help clarify any wrong concept,” said Cochran. “Again they place the interim transgender policy to the avant -garde, causing them to seem that they have cleaned their act when, in fact, we have not received any word about the application for eligibility that we have presented the first week of May 2025. Perhaps a first step should have recognized the error that took place in April.
“The USMS that refuses to recognize or even respond to our formal complaints says a lot about leadership. I refuse to participate in any USMS event and thank all the help of the Attorney General of Texas and Florida in our struggle to save women’s sports.”
A USMS spokesman told Pak Gazette Digital that the athlete’s review process is “continuous.”
“The USMS eligibility review process for a swimmer is still ongoing. We are browsing our process fair and deliberately and we hope to have a decision soon. The members who presented protests will be the first to know when that process is completed,” said the USMS spokesman.
The spokesman also approached the complaints made by the swimmers.
“The message we send to our members had nothing to do with the eligibility review process. We launched our bathing costume campaign, do not demand to correct deceptive public statements about USMS and clarify what we do. Our mission is to train adults to improve their lives through swimming,” said the spokesman.
Wendy Enderle swam in the 2018 USMS Spring Championship. (Courtesy of Wendy Enderle)
“We believe that requesting the help of our members to correct erroneous perceptions is an appropriate way to limit the resources spent on legal actions, so it can be used for their planned objective of serving our 60,000 members, and the response of our members so far has been positive.”
The Trans swimmer, Ana Caldas, 47, dominated the five races in which the athlete competed in April, taking gold in the 45-49 female category in five races, including the 50 and 100 yards breast, freestyle and the individual mix of 100 yards.
