The Swedish
Gymnastics Federation, on Monday said it would now allow the youths to choose
for themselves, in which gender they want to participate in the sport, for both
practice and matches.

This
decision came in the background of the federation’s deep dive in the issues of
gender identity and expression over the summer, the organisation said.

This will be
a huge step towards gender identity or expression. This decision allows to
choose any gender of your choice despite of your legal gender for any trainings
or competitions. Youths of transgender groups would also be given the same
opportunity of choosing the gender of their choice up to junior national level,
between the age group of 13 and 18 years old, the organisation said in a
statement.

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However, in
a conversation with daily Dagens Nyheter, the organisation also mentioned that
the new rules would not be applicable on senior athletes as they would need to
adapt to international rules.

This gymnastic
federation is the first national sports body to take a call from the Swedish
Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Rights
(RFSL), which in October provided a report on transgender communities engaged
in sports, mainly for children and young generation.

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RFSL also
mentioned, how the youths of transgender communities felt alienated in many
sports and related events.