A trans-identified male quietly dominated his age category at a national swimming championship held in Texas over the weekend, prompting concern from women’s rights groups. Ana Caldas, formerly known as Hugo Caldas and Hannah Caldas, took home multiple titles at the event.
The U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championship took place in San Antonio, Texas, from Thursday to Sunday. Competing in the women’s 45-49 age category for 02 Performance Aquatics was Ana Caldas, formerly known as Hugo.
Caldas entered five individual events during the meet: the 50 and 100 yard breaststroke, the 50 and 100 yard freestyle, and the 100 yard individual medley. Caldas came first in every event he entered, with beating out his female competitors by three seconds in the 100 yard freestyle and four seconds in the 50 and 100 yard breaststroke races.
A spokeswoman for the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) told Reduxx that Caldas’ latter gains were “absolutely insane” for short sprint races. “He’s just laughing at these women,” she added.
ICONS was aware of Caldas’ participation at the meet, and expressed concern directly to the U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS) board in an email they sent on Saturday following Caldas’ first individual win at the event on April 24. In the email, ICONS outlines the board’s own policies on trans-identified males competing against women, which dictate that males must have had hormonal therapy and provide documentation showing testosterone levels are below 5 nmol/L, are woefully insufficient to protect female athletes.
“Transparency in these matters is critical to maintaining the integrity of the competition and the trust of all USMS athletes. There is no length of time during which testosterone suppression eliminates male advantage; therefore it should not serve as a guideline permitting men to compete in women’s swimming,” the letter reads. “At a minimum, it is USMS’s responsibility to enforce its current policy.”
USMS did not respond to ICONS’ email, and Caldas went on to sweep several more women’s events at the championship.
It is unclear whether any of the competitors who lost to Caldas were aware whether he was a biological male, as he has been competing as a woman in swimming, rowing, and Crossfit for decades, and has been careful to conceal his previous identity. However, Caldas’ birth name is still listed on multiple research papers he co-authored as an academic, and in records from Wake Forest University where he was a member of the faculty. Caldas also co-applied for a patent in 2004 using the names “Hugo” and “Hannah.”
Prior to identifying as a woman, Caldas participated on the Ohio Splash Team, a swim club for homosexual males.
From 2009 to 2012, Caldas competed in USMS women’s competitions, managing to collect 7 all-American honors during that time. In 2011, he was ranked by FINA, the World Aquatics governing body, as the fastest female masters swimmer in the world in the over 30 category for both the 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle.
Incredibly, Caldas was set to compete for Portugal at the 2012 Olympics in the women’s 50 meter freestyle, but failed to qualify by just 0.3 seconds. Since returning to swimming in 2021, Caldas has broken a World Aquatics record in the mixed relay, setting a new record at the South American championships in October last year. In March of last year, he won a women’s world title in the Masters 45–49 100m freestyle at the World Aquatics Masters World Championships in Doha, Qatar, despite World Aquatics’ 2023 policy barring male participation in women’s elite competition unless male puberty was suppressed before the age of twelve.
Out of all his lifetime achievements, Caldas has broken seven different individual US Masters records and six relay records, of which he still holds one and two respectively. He holds 37 state records in Arizona and North Carolina, and taken 22 national championship titles, with 15 of those being in individual events
In Crossfit competitions, which he competed in from 2012 to 2021, Caldas was ranked as the number one woman in his age category in his home country of Portugal from 2018 until his retirement from the sport. He has ranked highly in a number of competitions, including taking women’s prize money and first place in Croatia, Argentina and Cyprus from 2014 to 2016. This is all despite the fact that Crossfit did not allow trans-identified men to officially compete in the sport until 2019. Although the sport has recently undone this policy, there is no screening required.
During the global COVID-19 lockdowns, Caldas became the 2021 world champion in the open category of the indoor rowing world championships, and still currently co-holds the world record in the women’s 500 meter category.
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