Lia Thomas made history as the first known transgender athlete to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) swimming championship in the United States when she claimed the title in the women’s 500-yard freestyle.
The University of Pennsylvania swimmer’s victory has sparked a debate about fairness and inclusion as she faced backlash with several organisations and athletes who questioned the fairness of a swimmer who was born a biological male competing against women.
It’s believed that 22-year-old Thomas swam for the men’s team for three seasons before starting hormone replacement therapy in 2019, and as per the USA Swimming’s updated policy, transgender athletes must undergo three years of hormone replacement therapy before being allowed to compete, The Guardian explains.
The NCAA did not adopt the USA Swimming’s policy and even though Thomas fell short by six months, she was still allowed to compete, as The Washington Post states.
Organisations like Save Women’s Sports who opposes transgender athletes competing in women’s competitions and other athletes have spoken out since. Reka Gyorgy from Hungary, who swims for Virginia Tech, wrote a letter to the NCAA.
“This is my last college meet ever and I feel frustrated. It feels like that final spot was taken away from me because of the NCAA’s decision … I know you could say I had the opportunity to swim faster and make the top 16, but this situation makes it a bit different and I can’t help but be angry or sad. It hurts me, my team and other women in the pool,” she wrote.
Gyorgy went on to say: “I’d like to point out that I respect and fully stand with Lia Thomas; I am convinced that she is no different than me or any other D1 swimmer who has woken up at 5 a.m. her entire life for morning practice.
“On the other hand, I would like to critique the NCAA rules that allow her to compete against us, who are biologically women.”
The president of World Athletics, Lord Sebastian Coe reacted to this controversy and said that “gender cannot trump biology,” further pointing to the federation’s history of regulating the participation of athletes with differences in sex development (DSD). This includes South Africa’s Caster Semenya, The Times reports.
One Twitter user said “Biologically born woman, Caster Semenya was banned from competing in female sports due to elevated levels of testosterone… William Thomas, now Lia Thomas, has just competed and won in women’s swimming nationals in the USA. We are living in very interesting times.”
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Picture: Twitter