nhi “MY MUSCLES COME FROM TRAINING — THERE’S NOTHING TO ARGUE ABOUT!” Hannah Caldas fired back at the media as questions exploded about her “unmatched” physique compared to female competitors following her five-year ban from women’s sports. Now, she’s making headlines again — this time for refusing to take a sex test, igniting an even bigger storm of controversy.

In the rippling waters of competitive swimming, where every second counts and every stroke defines legacy, Hannah Caldas has become a lightning rod for debate.

Born in Portugal and now a U.S. resident, the 48-year-old athlete has dominated masters events for over a decade, her powerful physique cutting through pools like a force of nature.

But recent headlines have thrust her into controversy, as World Aquatics imposed a five-year ban for refusing a chromosomal sex verification test required for women’s eligibility.

Caldas, who also competes under the name Ana, explained her stance with unapologetic clarity to reporters after the October 2025 ruling: “My muscles come from training, nothing to debate about!”

She highlighted her “superior” physical condition as the fruit of relentless dedication, not biology, comparing it favorably to many cisgender women competitors.

This bold declaration came amid scrutiny over her past performances, where she outpaced rivals by margins that raised eyebrows in the tightly knit world of masters swimming.

The ban, effective until October 2030, also stripped her of results from June 2022 to October 2024, erasing golds from the 2024 Masters World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

There, in the 45-49 women’s category, Caldas claimed victory in the 100-meter freestyle, her time a testament to years of grueling sessions in California’s sun-baked lanes.

Yet, the governing body’s decision stemmed from a policy overhaul in 2022, which barred transgender women who underwent male puberty from elite female categories to preserve competitive equity.

Caldas transitioned later in life, having competed in men’s events during college in the early 2000s under her birth name, Hugo—details that surfaced in investigative reports fueling the fire.

Her refusal of the cheek-swab test, which detects XY chromosomes, was framed not as evasion but as a stand for privacy and practicality in recreational sports.

“Chromosomal tests are invasive and expensive procedures,” she stated via New York Aquatics, her supportive LGBTQ+ masters club.

“My insurance refuses to cover such a test because it is not medically necessary. No U.S. state requires genetic tests for recreational sports events like these.”

Caldas emphasized that U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS), the national body for adult recreational swimming, had cleared her for female categories in August 2025 after reviewing documents, including a birth certificate listing her as female.

She identified as female and had aligned with that category since around 2009, gradually shifting from “Hannah” to “Ana” in competitions—a nuance that added layers to her public persona.

This clearance allowed her to shine at the USMS Spring Nationals in San Antonio, Texas, in April 2025, where she swept five golds in the 45-49 group, finishing seconds ahead in breaststroke and freestyle events.

One rival, speaking anonymously to media outlets, described the gap as “absolutely insane,” accusing Caldas of “laughing at these women” by dominating without apparent handicap.

The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) amplified these concerns, penning a letter to USMS alleging violations of fair play policies and demanding explanations for allowing what they viewed as an unfair edge.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton escalated the issue with a lawsuit against USMS, claiming the organization “deprived female athletes of fair competition” by permitting biological males in women’s events, spotlighting Caldas as exhibit A.

Paxton’s probe, launched in May 2025, painted a picture of systemic oversight failure, with Caldas’s victories symbolizing broader inequities in a sport where male puberty confers lasting advantages in muscle mass and lung capacity.

Scientific consensus, drawn from studies by the Journal of Applied Physiology, supports this: even after hormone therapy, transgender women retain 9-12% greater strength than cisgender women, advantages that dilute over years but persist in endurance sports like swimming.

Caldas, however, pushed back against the narrative of inherent superiority, attributing her edge to CrossFit triumphs and a 2021 world record in women’s 500-meter indoor rowing—feats she chalked up to “pure grind.”

Her multi-sport prowess extended to Grid League weightlifting in the 2010s, where she pocketed prizes as a female competitor, and early swimming medals that blurred lines between categories.

A Quillette investigation in November 2025 revealed a 16-year arc of success across four disciplines, amassing titles and cash while navigating eligibility with evolving identities, prompting calls for universal sex screening.

Caldas’s case echoes Lia Thomas’s 2022 NCAA win, the first by a transgender woman, which ignited global backlash and policy shifts, including World Aquatics’ “open” category for non-binary athletes to sidestep binary disputes.

Riley Gaines, the former Kentucky swimmer turned activist, seized on the ban, tweeting, “This is real life—not some South Park episode,” underscoring her crusade against what she sees as eroded integrity in women’s sports.

J.K. Rowling echoed this in a pointed X post: “Some people think it’s okay to see women injured, humiliated, and deprived of sporting opportunities… but I don’t,” directly critiquing Caldas’s revoked titles as a hollow victory for fairness.

Elon Musk amplified the discourse in early November, urging, “Immediately revoke all achievements of transgender athletes Hannah Caldas and Lia Thomas. Don’t let the ‘WOKE’ crowd destroy American sports!”—a viral call that garnered thousands of engagements.

On X, reactions split sharply: supporters like @TaraBull polled users on verification requirements, with 70% affirming yes, while critics decried it as transphobic overreach, citing rare cisgender women with XY chromosomes like those in difference of sex development (DSD) cases.

Caldas, undeterred, embraced the fallout: “A five-year suspension is the price I have to pay to protect my most intimate medical information. I’m happy to pay that price—for myself and for all the women who don’t want to undergo invasive testing.”

She announced retirement from competitive swimming, citing over 30 years in the pool and a desire to prioritize “personal safety” over podiums, though whispers persist of potential appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

This saga underscores a pivotal tension in modern athletics: balancing inclusion with equity. World Aquatics’ policy, upheld in a 2023 CAS ruling, prioritizes biology to safeguard Title IX gains for cisgender women, who comprise 99% of female competitors.

Yet, advocates like Outsports argue such tests stigmatize transgender athletes, ignoring that USMS rules cap testosterone at 5 nmol/L for trans inclusion—a threshold Caldas reportedly met but World Aquatics deemed insufficient without chromosomal proof.

As of November 22, 2025, no updates indicate reversal; Caldas’s ban stands, her story a cautionary ripple in the pool of progress.

Broader implications loom for masters sports, where age-group equity often trumps elite scrutiny, but Paxton’s suit could force USMS to align with stricter global standards.

For Caldas, the water’s edge marks not defeat but defiance—a swimmer who trained her way to the top, only to dive headlong into the debate over what “woman” truly means in the fast lane.

Her muscles, forged in repetition, now symbolize more than speed: a challenge to the very currents of change in a sport forever altered.