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Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’ hopes of competing in the Olympics have been slashed after she lost a legal battle challenging an effective ban on trans women competing in the highest levels of women’s swimming.
The sportswoman was attempting to overturn the ban introduced in 2022 that prohibited anyone who has undergone “any part of male puberty” from competing in the female category of elite races.
Highlights
- Lia Thomas' Olympic hopes were dashed after losing a legal battle against a ban on trans women in top-tier women's swimming
- The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Lia Thomas' request to overturn the 2022 ban on trans women who have undergone male puberty from women's elite races
- The athlete made history as the first transgender woman to win an NCAA Division I national championship in 2022
However, on Wednesday, three judges on the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed the 25-year-old swimmer’s request.
BP Daily - Your Source for Unbiased Reporting
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas lost a legal battle on Wednesday challenging a ban on trans women competing in the highest levels of women’s swimming
Image credits: Lia Thomas / Instagram
The athlete from Austin, Texas, made headlines a couple of years back when she was a member of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swimming team. She made history by becoming the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship, claiming victory in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
Her victory sparked widespread debate and media coverage regarding transgender athletes’ inclusion in sports, and it was seen by some as a significant milestone for transgender rights and inclusion while others raised concerns about competitive equity in women’s sports.
The swimmer made history in 2022, becoming the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship
The same year she enjoyed success in women’s collegiate swimming, the World Aquatics (WA) banned transgender women who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s races.
Lia maintained that those rules were not only “invalid and unlawful” but also contrary to the Olympic charter and the World Aquatics constitution.
“Trans people don’t transition for athletics,” she said in an interview that aired on Good Morning America in 2022. “We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decisions.”
“It’s been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through,” she said in 2022
Image credits: Lia Thomas / Instagram
She revealed in the interview that she fell in love with swimming when she was four years old. The feeling of being disconnected from her body eventually came about as she grew older.
“I didn’t feel like I was a boy,” she said.
“When I was a young kid, my mom always would describe me as a very happy kid,” she continued. “And then sort of in middle school and high school, as I, like, went through puberty, that shifted a little bit, with gender dysphoria from being trans, but I didn’t have, I didn’t yet know or have the language to describe that.”
After graduating in 2022, the sportswomen kept a firm eye on the Olympics and hoped to reach the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
“I intend to keep swimming,” she told the outlet. “It’s been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through.”
However, Wednesday’s ruling diminishes any hope she had of competing in next month’s Paris Olympics.
World Aquatics called the Wednesday ruling a “major step forward in our efforts to protect women’s sport”
View this post on Instagram
Following the ruling, WA said in a statement that it is “dedicated to fostering an environment that promotes fairness, respect, and equal opportunities for athletes of all genders and we reaffirm this pledge.”
“Our policies and practices are continuously evaluated to ensure they align with these core values, which led to the introduction of our open category,” the statement continued. “We remain committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders to uphold the principles of inclusivity in aquatic sports and remain confident that our gender inclusion policy represents a fair approach.”
Athlete Ally, a nonprofit that advocates for the inclusion of LGBTQ+ members in sports, said Wednesday was a “sad day” due to the ruling.
“By dismissing Lia Thomas’ legal challenge against World Aquatics, the CAS has denied her fundamental right to access an effective remedy for acts that violate her human rights,” Hudson Taylor, the founder and executive director of Athlete Ally, was quoted saying in a statement. “This is a sad day for sports and for anyone who believes that trans athletes should have the opportunity for their experiences of discrimination to be heard and adjudicated like everyone else.”
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What do you think ?
Fat Harry (Oi / You) 1 year ago
Trans rights is a tough call. On the one hand I support people whatever their sexual identity. On the other hand, women's rights have to take priority, and it's clearly not fair for trans women to compete with biological women because it's not a level playing field.
Trev Fontaine 1 year ago
Yea its not sport. Its not people compeating on a level playing field.
Load More Replies...
GEA 1 year ago
No sympathy. They have a truly unfair advantage that would ruin women's sport records for potentially years. Not about representation, this is about sportsmanship (pun not intended).
Apatheist Account2 1 year ago
I'm afraid you're on the wrong bandwagon now, Ael. People have realised that while people can be trans, it doesn't mean they have the right to invade every space in which women are kept apart for biological reasons, just because that's what they want.
Load More Replies...
TotallyNOTAFox 1 year ago (edited)
I mean let's be honest, she does have an advantage over biological women. Transitioning may not be intended to get that advantage but that doesn't change the fact she doesn't have it alone by training.
Karl 1 year ago (edited)
This could be solved by creating a third category for trans athletes. There’s a reason sport events are split by weight, age, sex, etc. It’s called fairness. Many of those calling for transwomen’s inclusion appear to have no understanding of how sports work at any level - one activist even called for no categories at all!
B.M. 1 year ago
In Berlin a big swim Meeting included a third section like this. They had "Male", "Female" and "Open". Sadly, no one registered for "Open". I was not surprised...
Load More Replies...
Charl Marx 1 year ago
Swimming is one of those sports where factually, being biologically male will be a physical advantage, unfortunately for her. I do think the decision was sensible in this case.
Judy Raymond 1 year ago
As a gay woman that was athletic for many years, I hope they ban transgendered men in every forum of women's sports. Women have fought for 100 plus years to get to the status of their own in female sports and then these men come in and try to make it their own. It makes me angry to think that they feel like they are entitled to play with the women. I understand their struggles but they need to do what the women did and that was to fight for their own positions in sports, as what they truly are, trans not women. The trans can create their own teams and status. They may think they identify as a woman, that doesn't make them a woman and having surgery and hormone shots doesn't make it so either. If they haven't bled every month from the time they are 12 and dealt with that (biological issues don't count) they aren't real women and their bodies are still male with the muscle and frame of men.
Valek Fermiga 1 year ago
That's actually the SINGLE best response I have read on this matter, it's brutally honest and straight to the point. I agree with you 100% - you have given me a brand new perspective....
Load More Replies... Trev Fontaine 1 year ago
I dont care what people do. And i love a dress up personally. But this lady literally has a full grown mans body and is just destroying the competition. Its sad for the girls missing out on there own victory to support someone who wants the entire world to cater to them and their needs.
Valek Fermiga 1 year ago
It's called sport - not a Woke PR campaign - if Lia chooses to want to be accepted as a woman on a daily basis - good for her, HOWEVER, when it comes to sport, as things currently stand there are two separate categories: Men and Women - Lia has a physical advantage of other competitors, it's a fact, she does. It would be like Mike Tyson transitioning from a man into a woman then wanting to fight in the women's section..... It's called not fair....
Rosco Schmitt 1 year ago
He was never realistically eligible to compete In female sports. He's not a female, and will never be female, so not eligible to compete as a female. Can always compete in non-gender division sports, or the male division sports he's been competing in.
JB 1 year ago
Last I checked, there’s no human right to demand equal treatment in a sports class, category, weight… when the person demanding has an unequivocal physical advantage. A welterweight may identify as a bantamweight; don’t mean we must allow them to box at that weight. It’s sad, probably devastating, she may have to give up her dream of competing in the olympics as a woman. But she’s literally demanding equal treatment when it would be unequal competition against all her opponents. Perhaps an option would be to give her a handicap? The bio women get a head start and she must work that much harder to win because she has the capacity to do so, whereas they don’t, and no amount of training will ever grant that.
john sykes 1 year ago
no biological men in women sports. what's so hard and complicated about that?! I don't understand, why society wants to cater to all these freaks, how is letting them compete in women's sports fair to women? they can compete with the men where they belong, or make a trans division ,
Ruth Meszaros 1 year ago
Perhaps we need a third division in every sport now, the Trans division. Theuy can all compete against one another, whether they went through puberty as male or female or took hormones to switch. It only seems fair to straight males and females.
chris may 1 year ago
basically everyone in this comment section is very uneducated on how people transition. Lia thomas had to go on HRT (the d**g that makes people more feminine) for a year before she was eligible to compete in the women's section. and before her one year period was finished she was competing in the men's categories which most people think she should be in. but because she was on hrt she actually had a pretty big disadvantage against her competitors because of the muscle loss caused by her hrt.
Fat Harry (Oi / You) 1 year ago
Trans rights is a tough call. On the one hand I support people whatever their sexual identity. On the other hand, women's rights have to take priority, and it's clearly not fair for trans women to compete with biological women because it's not a level playing field.
Trev Fontaine 1 year ago
Yea its not sport. Its not people compeating on a level playing field.
Load More Replies... GEA 1 year ago
No sympathy. They have a truly unfair advantage that would ruin women's sport records for potentially years. Not about representation, this is about sportsmanship (pun not intended).
Apatheist Account2 1 year ago
I'm afraid you're on the wrong bandwagon now, Ael. People have realised that while people can be trans, it doesn't mean they have the right to invade every space in which women are kept apart for biological reasons, just because that's what they want.
Load More Replies... TotallyNOTAFox 1 year ago (edited)
I mean let's be honest, she does have an advantage over biological women. Transitioning may not be intended to get that advantage but that doesn't change the fact she doesn't have it alone by training.
Karl 1 year ago (edited)
This could be solved by creating a third category for trans athletes. There’s a reason sport events are split by weight, age, sex, etc. It’s called fairness. Many of those calling for transwomen’s inclusion appear to have no understanding of how sports work at any level - one activist even called for no categories at all!
B.M. 1 year ago
In Berlin a big swim Meeting included a third section like this. They had "Male", "Female" and "Open". Sadly, no one registered for "Open". I was not surprised...
Load More Replies... Charl Marx 1 year ago
Swimming is one of those sports where factually, being biologically male will be a physical advantage, unfortunately for her. I do think the decision was sensible in this case.
Judy Raymond 1 year ago
As a gay woman that was athletic for many years, I hope they ban transgendered men in every forum of women's sports. Women have fought for 100 plus years to get to the status of their own in female sports and then these men come in and try to make it their own. It makes me angry to think that they feel like they are entitled to play with the women. I understand their struggles but they need to do what the women did and that was to fight for their own positions in sports, as what they truly are, trans not women. The trans can create their own teams and status. They may think they identify as a woman, that doesn't make them a woman and having surgery and hormone shots doesn't make it so either. If they haven't bled every month from the time they are 12 and dealt with that (biological issues don't count) they aren't real women and their bodies are still male with the muscle and frame of men.
Valek Fermiga 1 year ago
That's actually the SINGLE best response I have read on this matter, it's brutally honest and straight to the point. I agree with you 100% - you have given me a brand new perspective....
Load More Replies... Trev Fontaine 1 year ago
I dont care what people do. And i love a dress up personally. But this lady literally has a full grown mans body and is just destroying the competition. Its sad for the girls missing out on there own victory to support someone who wants the entire world to cater to them and their needs.
Valek Fermiga 1 year ago
It's called sport - not a Woke PR campaign - if Lia chooses to want to be accepted as a woman on a daily basis - good for her, HOWEVER, when it comes to sport, as things currently stand there are two separate categories: Men and Women - Lia has a physical advantage of other competitors, it's a fact, she does. It would be like Mike Tyson transitioning from a man into a woman then wanting to fight in the women's section..... It's called not fair....
Rosco Schmitt 1 year ago
He was never realistically eligible to compete In female sports. He's not a female, and will never be female, so not eligible to compete as a female. Can always compete in non-gender division sports, or the male division sports he's been competing in.
JB 1 year ago
Last I checked, there’s no human right to demand equal treatment in a sports class, category, weight… when the person demanding has an unequivocal physical advantage. A welterweight may identify as a bantamweight; don’t mean we must allow them to box at that weight. It’s sad, probably devastating, she may have to give up her dream of competing in the olympics as a woman. But she’s literally demanding equal treatment when it would be unequal competition against all her opponents. Perhaps an option would be to give her a handicap? The bio women get a head start and she must work that much harder to win because she has the capacity to do so, whereas they don’t, and no amount of training will ever grant that.
john sykes 1 year ago
no biological men in women sports. what's so hard and complicated about that?! I don't understand, why society wants to cater to all these freaks, how is letting them compete in women's sports fair to women? they can compete with the men where they belong, or make a trans division ,
Ruth Meszaros 1 year ago
Perhaps we need a third division in every sport now, the Trans division. Theuy can all compete against one another, whether they went through puberty as male or female or took hormones to switch. It only seems fair to straight males and females.
chris may 1 year ago
basically everyone in this comment section is very uneducated on how people transition. Lia thomas had to go on HRT (the d**g that makes people more feminine) for a year before she was eligible to compete in the women's section. and before her one year period was finished she was competing in the men's categories which most people think she should be in. but because she was on hrt she actually had a pretty big disadvantage against her competitors because of the muscle loss caused by her hrt.
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