“Iwas a bit nervous when I first starting swimming with a group, I wasn’t sure what they might think,” says Eden Elgeti. “But literally nothing happened, everyone has such different body shapes it makes no difference.”
Eden is a transgender swimmer from Reading. We meet at the Thames Lido where she is a member and swims regularly. Eden also swims with the West Berkshire Open Water Swimmers, plunging into the Thames around Streatley and Basildon. Despite learning to swim when she was four and socially swimming during school years, Eden hadn’t actively swum for years. When the Thames Lido opened in 2017 Eden rediscovered the joy of swimming. “With the changing rooms at the lido the way they are and being transgender, it took the worry away from swimming,” she says. “So many local facilities are single gendered and can be uncomfortable. I love it here, there are no lane ropes and I can do what I want. It got me back into swimming and looking after my fitness.”
HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY