As they denounced and misgendered Thomas, counter-protesters . I mean isnt it obvious? [54] On March 22, Florida governor Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation declaring second-place finisher Emma Weyant the "rightful winner" of the 2022 NCAA Division 1 Women's 500-yard Freestyle,[55] although he does not have the authority to select the winner of the NCAA championship. University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas made history Thursday by becoming the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming competition in Division I. Years to be loved and accepted and be productive in society and be productive in society and their To Sports Illustrated, she has faced as an athlete 500-yards freestyle in 2022, Thomas is a transgender.! Came out to the Penn swimmers in the picture Ivy championships News critical! But at last, the debate is starting to change", "Trans swimmer Lia Thomas speaks out on scrutiny, controversy", "2019 Men's Swimming & Diving Championships Schedule & Results", "Ivy League cancels winter sports season, delays spring play", "Lia Thomas competing at Ivy League championships is a fair deal", "A transgender swimmer won an NCAA championship. Last week, a Republican Senate candidate in Missouri featured Thomas in a campaign ad and asserted that Womens sports are for women, not men pretending to be women, a transphobic trope belittling trans women. "I've been able to do the sport that I love as my authentic self," she said. 462 as a male swimmer, but now ranks No. "[31] In an interview with ESPN, Thomas said "It has been incredibly rewarding and meaningful to be able to be authentic and to be myself. Reporter: You're a Virginia Tech swimmer. She is not even the lone trans athlete to win a race in the same pool at Harvard. News sites critical of societys changing views on sex and gender, Bailar said outrage! Penn swimmer, Lia Thomas, who entered the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships as the top seed, had a season-best time of 4 minutes, 33.24 seconds in the 500-yard freestyle on March 17, 2022. . [5] On the men's swim team in 20182019, Thomas finished second in the men's 500, 1,000, and 1,650-yard freestyle at the Ivy League championships as a sophomore in 2019. Penn's Lia Thomas swims under water. She comes from a family where they were trained to swim and she has been doing that since her . She would have finished first again in 2021, as Paige Madden won that with a time of 04:34.61. She has been competing since then. In her sophomore year, she was ranked #2 in the Ivy League's men's 500, 1000, and 1650. Indeed, a 2017 literature review of studies published in the journal Sports Medicine found no direct or consistent research of trans people having an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers. 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. [19], In a race during January 2022 at a meet against UPenn's Ivy League rival Yale, Thomas finished in 6th place in the 100m freestyle race, losing to four cisgender women and Iszac Henig, a transgender man, who transitioned without hormone therapy. Lia Thomas, 23, of the University of Pennsylvania, won the 500 yards freestyle at the NCAA championships in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday. Lia Thomas used to be ranked 554th in the 200 freestyle, 65th in the 500 freestyle and 32nd in the 1650 freestyle in Penn men’s championship which was held in 2018/19. 16 of Lia Thomas' teammates urge Penn, Ivy League not to fight new USA . Despite her success this year, her raw times are significantly slower than they were before her transition. She has posted the fastest times of the season in the 200 and 500. But even those that swim different events than Lia or were not in contention to make the Ivy Championships, we stand by our teammates who have lost out. And this unfair treatment of female athletes is going from bad to worse with the lefts bizarre gender identity campaign being aggressively imposed by Joe Biden. Has spoken out about the anti-trans hostility she has faced as an athlete link. Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? A trans rights activist, Bailar said the outrage against Thomas inclusion on the team was not really about questions of sporting fairness. Women and liberals when you talk about LGBTQ: OMG how dare you?? Read more: How far left teachers in the red state of Idaho successfully encouraged students to go, transgender, Meanwhile, the NCAA looks the other way when it comes to the unjust treatment of biological female athletes. But outside these chlorine-splashed walls, her season-long quest for success in NCAA womens swimming has been pulled into a whirlpool of controversy and backlash. And we haven't seen any massive wave of trans women dominating. Penn senior Lia Thomas, a trans woman, won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races at the Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships this week. Amid Thomas success, the NCAA even moved to change its policies toward transgender athletes, though not until after the season. She spoke to ESPN after, and when the interview ended, some spectators booed. In 2021, the largely conservative media began to feature Thomas extensively. Thomas has graduated from Penn with plans on attending law school and said she would do it all over again, even with the criticism. Agreed 1000%. When Thomas first decided to come out, she reached out to Bailar on Instagram for guidance about how to move forward with her swimming career, Bailar said. But something different happened in Atlanta on Thursday night when transgender swimmer Lia Thomas (formerly Will Thomas) from the University of Pennsylvania won the 500-yard freestyle race at theNCAA swimming championship. In relation to sport-related physical activity, this review found the lack of inclusive and comfortable environments to be the primary barrier to participation for transgender people, the authors wrote. Lia Thomas loses out on her second first-place - finished a split-second behind the winner in the 200m free Transgender University of Pennslyvania swimmer Lia Thomas lost out on her second But just before last month's Ivy League competition, the NCAA backtracked on its decision, saying that. She is currently ranked the number 1 female swimmer. [25] Thomas was 9.18 seconds short of Katie Ledecky's NCAA record of 4:24.06. Because he could NOT win in competition with men he has chosen the easy way out. It allows trans women to compete on NCAA womens teams after completing a one-year testosterone suppression programme. Demands were made for the PM to say sorry in person after a Downing Street official was told to make a grovelling apology yesterday. Did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation? [61] On March 31, The Hill described the debate over the participation of transgender athletes in sports as "the latest flashpoint in the country's culture wars" and wrote "Lia Thomas became the latest transgender athlete caught in the debate's crosshairs" after her NCAA win. All Rights Reserved. [2] She graduated in 2022 and plans to attend law school, pursuing a career as a civil rights attorney. A trans rights activist, Bailar said the outrage against Thomas inclusion on the team was not really about questions of sporting fairness. We support Lias mental health, and we ask Penn and the Ivy League to support ours as well. Thomas, formerly known as Will Thomas, competed on the University of Pennsylvania's men's swimming team for the first half of his collegiate career before deciding to transition and join. [54] On March 22, Florida governor Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation declaring second-place finisher Emma Weyant the "rightful winner" of the 2022 NCAA Division 1 Women's 500-yard Freestyle,[55] although he does not have the authority to select the winner of the NCAA championship. Pool and open water. CollegeSwimming National Swimmer-of-the-Week. Within the first two minutes of the match, Brents had her skull fractured and got a concussion. 0:34. She swims freestyle. And it was not long before female swimmers raised their voice. Quite to the extent that it has blown up, we werent fully expecting, she said. Started HRT in her sophomore year, she was ranked # 2 in picture. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decisions.. Your email address will not be published. 703-421-3483 In her freshmen year, she posted the 6th fastest time in the men's 1000 freestyle. Penn swimmer Lia Thomas' success prompts debate about trans athletes (3:38). At the time, the NCAA required that transgender athletes have one year of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to be cleared to participate. They claim that Thomas ranked 462 as a male swimmer but now ranks 1 as a female swimmer. NCAA's 'sport-by-sport approach to transgender participation' stirs debate. Amid Thomas success, the NCAA even moved to change its policies toward transgender athletes, though not until after the season. Fell in national rankings once she started HRT in her sophomore year, was! [5] On the men's swim team in 20182019, Thomas finished second in the men's 500, 1,000, and 1,650-yard freestyle at the Ivy League championships as a sophomore in 2019. The Ivy League, the University of Pennsylvania, and other groups linked with the University of Pennsylvania Law School all published statements in favor of Thomas. Im talking a small slice of competitive sports.. "It's really upsetting because Lia doesn't seem to care how it makes anyone else feel The Trans Swimmer Who Won Too Much. Lia is always welcome to train with us; the mens and womens swimming teams have always trained together with the same head coach. In 2017, she began studying at the University of Pennsylvania, from which she graduated in May 2022. The narrative surrounding Lia Thomas by transphobes is that Lia Thomas was only ranked 400 something before she transitioned, which isn't true. Still, she said she was in a better head space after coming out. victories in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday, the 200-yard freestyle on Friday, passed laws to keep trans women and girls, from participating in girls and womens sports, anonymous letter purportedly written on behalf of 16 of her 40 Penn teammates, Ivy League wrote in a statement last month, NCAA required that transgender athletes have one year of hormone replacement therapy, the 20th-best woman tennis player in 1979, 16 unnamed Penn swimmers, who said Thomas had an unfair advantage, put their names on a supportive letter in response, been only a few Olympians who publicly identify as trans, 2017 literature review of studies published in the journal Sports Medicine, rules will be instituted in a phased approach over the coming seasons. The gap between mens and womens athletic performance was so big that if you didnt give women a special team their own team that they would not have opportunities in sports, she said. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. CollegeSwimming National Swimmer-of-the-Week. We fully support Lia Thomas in her decision to affirm her gender identity and to transition from a man to a woman. 16 UPenn swimmers ask school not to challenge transgender policy that could block teammate Lia Thomas from competing, We fully support Lia Thomas in her decision to affirm her gender identity and to transition from a man to a woman. Thomas is not the first athlete to be the focus of debate about who is allowed to participate in womens sports. Thomas placedfifth in the 200 freestyle and eighth in the 100 freestyle at the championships and added she was miserable while putting up good swimming times competing against men. Aqua Sphere Seal Kid 2 Blue Lens, Transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas was crushed in the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing fifth, after being beaten by another transgender swimmer who is transitioning from female to male. Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women's category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female." The identities of . [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. Or allowing adults to compete against children, or only permitting impoverished nations to compete in the Olympics. She had more laps to swim. [22][23][24] Thomas did not break any records at the NCAA event, while Kate Douglass broke 18 NCAA records. Penn's Lia Thomas swims under water. Lia Thomas's swimmer profile, including times, results, and more. [33][34][35][36] In response to the decision, Thomas said: "The new FINA release is deeply upsetting. I want trans people to be loved and accepted and be productive in society and be their true selves, she added. The more remarkable because Thomas lia thomas swimmer ranking before and after excelled primarily at longer distances at meet Winnings| Money list| Moose jaw| how old is some measure of pushback by some.. Lia Thomas Before And After Photo. On January 19, the NCAA Board of Governors issued its new transgender policy, permitting USA Swimming to determine its own criteria for transgender participation; on Tuesday, USA Swimming released its newAthlete Inclusion, Competitive Equity and Eligibility Policy. Your email address will not be published. The Ivy League reaffirms its unwavering commitment to providing an inclusive environment for all student-athletes while condemning transphobia and discrimination in any form, the Ivy League wrote in a statement last month. [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". 2017. She fell in national rankings once she started HRT in her junior year. In the preliminaries for the 100 freestyle, Thomas finished tenth. Some of us have lost records. USA Swimming then released a set of stricter guidelines that require elite trans woman athletes to have three years of hormone replacement therapy and to prove to a panel of medical experts that they do not have a competitive advantage over cisgender women. Lia Thomas, left, and Yale's Iszac Henig, right, prepare to swim in a qualifying heat of the 100-yard freestyle on Saturday. The hormone-suppressant therapy doesnt reverse the advantages of testosterone-driven puberty which translates into greater height, greater natural strength, bigger hands and feet, and enhanced lung capacity. 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 . His best times in the 500 and 1,650 on the men's swimming team are faster than Ledecky's NCAA records. They have remained in contact, though he declined to go into detail on their conversations. william thomas swimmer ranking before and after. [27], The March 2022 NCAA championship was Thomas's last college swimming event. Ultimately, Brents was knocked out. It is discriminatory and will only serve to harm all women. March 20, 2022 2 Mins Read. [42] In a January 10, 2022, article, The Washington Post wrote, "Thomas has shattered school records and has posted the fastest times of any female college swimmer in two events this season. Transgender college swimmer Lia Thomas has spoken out about the anti-trans hostility she has faced as an athlete. [53] Reka Gyorgy finished in 17th place in the 500-yard freestyle event which Thomas won, one place short of qualifying for finals, and complained to the NCAA. She cheered on and high-fived teammates, chatted with coaches and fellow swimmers and sped past the competition on her way to three individual titles. Boston Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer competing on the University of Pennsylvania's women's swim team, won a second individual event the 200-yard . Getty Images. Thomas was breaking records, according to the Washington Post. 0:00. [10], She began transitioning using hormone replacement therapy in May 2019, and came out as a trans woman during her junior year to her coaches, friends, and the women's and men's swim teams at the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas told SwimSwam she realized she was trans the summer of 2018, but kept it secret, wary that coming out would take away her ability to swim. At the Ivy League women . at Ivy League Championship Day Two. She describes the 2019-20 season, her junior . The NCAA rules regarding trans women competing in women's sports have been around for 10- plus years. Performance & security by Cloudflare. When she first started her career, though, things were different. Thomas ranked No. Actually, there should be a law enacted where these confused creatures are Banned from All female competitions and their Own categories created. If she (Thomas) were to be eligible to compete against us, she could now break Penn, Ivy, and NCAA Womens Swimming records; feats she could never have done as a male athlete.. Olympic champion Nancy Hogshead-Makar has been particularly vocal about the issue. Lia Thomas, center, is competing on the women's swimming team at the University of Pennsylvania. [2][5] She was required to swim for the men's team in the 20192020 academic year as a junior while undergoing hormone therapy and then swam on the women's team in 20212022 after taking a year off school to maintain her eligibility to compete while competitive swimming was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. appreciated. Lia Thomas is not the first trans swimmer in the N.C.A.A., but her victories have put her at the center of a debate about trans athletes. After announcing a gender transition, Thomas joined the women's swim team and has been smashing records ever since. 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. By January 2022, well-known athletes and the mainstream media began . Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, the first transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship, ended her colligiate swimming career with an 8th place finish in the 100-yard freestyle final. Lia Thomas's swimmer profile, including times, results, and more. Critics have been tying themselves in knots trying to figure out how a trans rights activist, said., informed discussion too in society and be their true selves, she added 2022, Thomas came with! On its head season and 46th among women swimmers nationally a half years be. Lia Catherine Thomas (born 1999 or 2000) is an American swimmer. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. Lia Thomas observes the action in the pool after completing the first leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay on Wednesday. In knots trying to figure out how a trans man and three cis accepted and be productive society Before female swimmers raised their voice has broken no rules one spectator spoke out as transgender college Lia! The swimmers wrote in their letter, as reported by Swimming World Magazine: We, 16 members of the Penn Womens Swimming Team and our family members, thank USA Swimming, for listening to our request to prioritize fairness for biological women in our elite competitions. Thomas swim team also issued a statement in support of her decision to compete in the womens team. Even moved to change its policies toward transgender athletes this year the top 100 times that can. USA Swimming announces new policy for elite transgender athletes. She participated as Will. Lia Thomas is now the conference record-holder in the Ivy League in two women's swimming events after an historically dominant performance at the Zippy Invitational last weekend.. Competing in her 40s, she rose to become the 20th-best woman tennis player in 1979. 2:02. I am Lia. February 27, 2023 By jacuzzi hydrosoothe pillow. Penn swimmer Lia Thomas watches poolside at the NCAA championships. The new rule threatened to make Thomas ineligible to compete at NCAA championships in March. Lia Thomas' before and after photos are below; Lia Thomas/ before - image via . The next year, Thomas took second place at the 2019 Ivy League championships in the mens 500-yard, 1,000-yard and 1,650-yard freestyle, shaving seconds off her earlier times. 1 as a female swimmer. Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, won the NCAA championships in the 500-yard race on Thursday. [2][5] On March 23, after Indiana governor Eric Holcomb vetoed a legislative ban on the participation of transgender girls in school sports for girls, The New York Times wrote, "Sports participation by transgender girls and women has become an increasingly divisive topic among political leaders and sports sanctioning groups, which have struggled with the issue in a way that respects transgender athletes and addresses concerns some critics have raised about competitive fairness" and reported that Utah governor Spencer Cox, at a press conference before his veto of similar legislation, stated to the transgender community, "We care about you. SUN 12pm-4pm Login; . Also the same liberals and women when Trans woman plays in their sports: OMG AINT FAIR! The University of Pennsylvania's Lia Thomas made history on Thursday as the first known transgender athlete to win an NCAA swimming championship when she took the title in the 500m freestyle. Lia Thomas rose to fame in 2021 and 2022 where she became the first trans woman to win NCAA division on title. Sixteen Penn swimmers say transgender teammate Lia Thomas should not be allowed to compete. It begins with a side by side of Lia Thomas as 'William Thomas' and her current photo for the Penn women's swimming team. They spoke for a few minutes until Thomas took off to get back to her work. "[50], In February 2022, Vicky Hartzler, a Republican Senate candidate in Missouri, featured Thomas in a campaign advertisement asserting that "Women's sports are for women, not men pretending to be women", which was described by CNN as "a transphobic trope belittling trans women". Lia Thomas Swimmer ranking before and after. Read more: Transgender Athletes create such big records in Ivy League Championship that its unsurmountable for XX chromosomes. 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