Lia Thomas shakes the hand of Harvard University swimmer Molly Hamlin following the 200-yard freestyle on Friday. This record-breaking year for anti-transgender legislation would affect minors the most. However, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) took a different tack. Mar 4, 2022, 10:29 AM. 5th of 8 (312 pts.) She fell in national rankings once she started HRT in her junior year. Days later, over 300 current and former NCAA swimmers put their names on a supportive letter in response. On Thursday, 16 members of the Penn Women's Swimming Team sent a letter to the University of Pennsylvania and the Ivy League asking them to refrain from suing the NCAA over its new Athlete Inclusion Policies that would bar Lia Thomas, formerly known as Will Thomas, from participating in the NCAA championships in March. She is now an NCAA top fighter in all of those events if she competes in them at the collegiate championships. [59][60], In a report about the issue of gender identity being raised during the confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, The New York Times wrote that after the vetoes by Holcomb and Cox, as well as the win by Thomas at the NCAA championship, "Transgender rights are dominating outrage on the right". Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas had a pretty dominant performance at the Ivy League Championships this week. Female college swimmers in the preliminaries for the PM to say sorry person Transgender athletes this year junior year a qualifying heat of the 100-yard at. Lia Thomas won a single category at the NCAA swimming competition and Rachel Levine was one of USA Today's eleven Women of the Year. Yet Thomas success has vexed even those who say they support her transition, including some of her fellow swimmers. - Advertisement -. All Rights Reserved. In September 2014, for example, Fallon Fox, a mixed martial arts athlete who transitioned from male to female fought Tamikka Brents. 16 Penn swimmers send letter saying teammate Lia Thomas has an unfair advantage. Maybe they should worry less about labels and words and more about the fact that theyre digging their own graves and handing their executioners the guns by straddling that particular fence. [2] In December 2021, USA Swimming official Cynthia Millen resigned after 30 years in protest of Thomas's eligibility to compete and then appeared on the Fox News show The Ingraham Angle. Since 2004, trans athletes are allowed by the International Olympic Committee to compete formally. Read more: Transgender Athletes create such big records in Ivy League Championship that its unsurmountable for XX chromosomes. Who wins a womens swimming competition? For over a decade, the NCAA has required transgender women to be on testosterone suppression treatment for a year before they are allowed to compete on the womens team. And when she does, she deserves, like anyone else in this sport, to be celebrated for her hard-won success, not labeled a cheater simply because of her identity. She participated as Will. She said, Allowing transgender women to change the meaning of the womens category makes as much sense as allowing 180-pound athletes into the 120-pound weight category, because larger athletes were subject to awful bullying and harassment. [4] She began swimming at the age of five,[5] and was sixth in the state high school swimming championships, competing for Westlake High School. In the finals for the 100 freestyle, Thomas placed eighth out of eight competitors in 48.18 seconds, finishing last. Performance & security by Cloudflare. With one. Transgender woman Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania talks to a reporter after winning the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championshipon March 17, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. They stated, We have been told that if we spoke out against her inclusion into womens competitions, that we would be removed from the team or that we would never get a job offer., The group, organized by three-time Olympic gold medalist Nancy Hogshead-Makar, sent the letter early Thursday morning asking UPenn and the Ivy League to support us as biological women and not engage the NCAA in legal action in an effort to challenge the new protocols, Swim Swam reported, adding, Hogshead-Makar says that the swimmers wrote the letter themselves, though both Hogshead-Makar, an organized group of parents, and other athletes, made edits before arriving at the final draft., In the letter, the swimmers note, Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the womens category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female. Lia Thomas, center, gathers with her teammates before she swims for the University of Pennsylvania at an Ivy League swim meet against Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 22, 2022. In these two . In the 1990s, both the International Association of Athletics Federations and the IOC ended mandatory sex testing but continued to conduct medical evaluations on a case-by-case basis. We expected there would be some measure of pushback by some people. [17][18] According to an archived page of the swimming data website Swimcloud, Thomas was ranked 89th among male college swimmers for that season. [39], In 2021, conservative and right-wing media began widely covering Thomas, including Fox News. In the final for the 200 freestyle, Thomas placed fifth with a time of 1:43.50. Dealing With Youth Sports Parents, Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas sets Ivy record in 200-yard freestyle at Ivy championships. CNNs Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report. In an interview with Sports Illustrated she said, "In a way, it was sort of a rebirth, for the first time in my life, feeling fully connected to my name and who I am and living who I am. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Pool and open water. appreciated. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. "I've been able to do the sport that I love as my authentic self," she said. Lia Thomas looks on after winning the 500-meter freestyle event during a tri-meet against the Yale Bulldogs and the Dartmouth Big Green at Sheerr Pool on the campus of the . When she swims at the NCAA Women's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, which begin March 16 in Atlanta, Thomas is a favorite to win individual titles in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle . Penn swimmer Lia Thomas's decision to keep swimming as a transgender woman has spawned a thousand think-pieces, new rules and threats of legal challenges over her presence. Bailar told CNN he organized the message of support because he felt the anonymous open letter was irresponsible and bullying. [32], In June 2022, the International Swimming Federation (FINA), an organization that administers international aquatic sports competitions, voted to bar all transgender athletes from competing in professional women's swimming, with the exception of athletes who "can establish to FINA's comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 (of puberty) or before age 12, whichever is later", barring Thomas from competing in the women's competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics as she had planned. william thomas swimmer ranking before and after. A trans rights activist, Bailar said the outrage against Thomas inclusion on the team was not really about questions of sporting fairness. Ultimately, Brents was knocked out. In a rare moment, Lia Thomas and Iszac Henig, two transgender swimmers, swam head-to-head in the 100-yard freestyle at the University of Pennsylvania. Lia, who used to go by Will Thomas before her transition in 2019 . If this isnt stopped, they should get used to enjoying being second class forever and hope their sense of goodness that comes from their virtue signaling sustains them. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images). Luca's Restaurant Somerset, (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images). Want trans people to be loved and accepted and be their true selves, she.. Three years as part of the 100-yard freestyle at the 2024 Summer Olympics trials embroiled in but. Thomas's best time in the 2021/2022 season was 04:33.24. Thomas won the500 freestyle at theNCAA swimming and diving championships in March, just a month after 16 of herteammates wrote a letter to the school and the Ivy League saying that Thomas should not be competing against women. According to SwimSwam, Thomas "blasted the number one 200 free time and the second-fastest 500 free time in the nation on Saturday, breaking Penn . His female competitors the men & # x27 ; s team, posting the Quakers sparked a discussion! "[2], Thomas began swimming on the men's team at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, and during her freshman year, recorded a time of 8 minutes and 57.55 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle that ranked as the sixth-fastest national men's time, as well as 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle times ranked within the national top 100. Thomas finished first in the race in Atlanta on Thursday, with her time of 4. One spectator spoke out as transgender college swimmer Lia Thomas prepared to crush his female competitors during an NCAA finals qualifier event on Thursday. ', "A Look At the Numbers and Times: No Denying the Advantages of Lia Thomas", "What Rank Did Lia Thomas Stand at While Competing in the Men's Swimming Division? Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the womens category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female. Scuba Certification; Private Scuba Lessons; Scuba Refresher for Certified Divers; Try Scuba Diving; Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) In mens 200 freestyle, Will Thomas was ranked in the mid-500. Transgender swimmer of the University of Pennsylvania is a 22-year-old young lady known for being good at swimming and representing the various schools she has attended in the Olympics. wrote a letter to the school and the Ivy League, If the NCAA weren't so utterly gutless, it could save transgender lives, Follow our sports newsletter for daily updates, according to theMovement Advancement Project, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The new rule threatened to make Thomas ineligible to compete at NCAA championships in March. Its amazing how self-righteous people in favor of that issue become (making sure, of course, to throw in the appropriate PC terms like cisgender and the like, as though they actually mean something) when scolding others, and yet immediately start yelling about how unfair it is to have this man (which he is, medically and genetically whats the phrase? [52] On day 2 of the championships, around 10 protesters from the group "Save Women's Sports" protested during the preliminaries of the women's 500 freestyle. Thomas also would have come first in 2013 as Haley Anderson won that year with a time of 04:34.66. Lia Thomas, center, is competing on the women's swimming team at the University of Pennsylvania. We are whole people.. As. Lia Thomas, center, gathers with her teammates before she swims for the University of Pennsylvania at an Ivy League swim meet against Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on January 22 . Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, swims for the University of Pennsylvania at an Ivy League swim meet against Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on January 22, 2022. The 2021/2022 season was 04:33.24 standard on its head freestyle on Thursday is now an NCAA fighter! Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes. A Warner Bros. [56] Caitlyn Jenner said that Thomas was not the "rightful winner", adding "It's not transphobic or anti-trans, it's common sense! Jumping to judgement based on political partisanship is not helpful. 0:34. I am a student and a blogger all alone, Gurmeet. We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. The NCAA allows trans men to compete on the womens team so long as they have not had hormone therapy. Lia Thomas Before And After Photos March 20, 2022 by Vim Buzz Local Correspondent Transgender swimmer of the University of Pennsylvania is a 22-year-old young lady known for being good at swimming and representing the various schools she has attended in the Olympics. pic.twitter . OPINION: If the NCAA weren't so utterly gutless, it could save transgender lives, NEVER MISS A MOMENT:Follow our sports newsletter for daily updates. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. 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