Lia Thomasthe trans swimmer who received the award for Woman of the Year by National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), does not stop receiving questions from some of her colleagues. The award aroused the particular anger of the athlete from the University of Kentucky, Riley Gaines, another of the candidates for the university award, who declared on her Twitter account that this fact constitutes a “slap in the face of women”.
“First a women’s national title and now nominated for the highest award in college sports. The NCAA has made this award worthless.”wrote a few weeks ago protesting the nomination of Lia Thomas. For this reason, Gaines made a strong speech in the state of Virginia, during the presentation of a project of law for equality in women’s sports.
Lia Thomas was born in 2000, and in 2017 he began studying at the University of Pennsylvaniagraduating in May 2022. In 2018, he began to come out as openly transgender, and in 2019 she began her transition through hormone therapy. In 2020, she began competing on the women’s team, now under her new name, and in March 2022, she became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport, after winning the event. female freestyle.
In said tournament, the one of the ivy league, in which the eight best universities in the northwestern United States participate, Thomas was present representing Pennsylvania, and at the time of participating he was still going through his physical transition. At the time of the 200 free, Thomas and Gaines were even. Precisely, the controversy with Gaines began around that time. In April of last year, Gaines came to denounce the NCAA for “discrimination based on sex” by allowing Thomas to displace female swimmers.
He raised several complaints since considered Thomas’ involvement unfair in the same tournaments in which they and other swimmers competed, claiming that the trans swimmer would have the advantages of a man, biologically speaking. “We’re dealing with something that is totally out of our control when we’re competing, biological men. If they have different lung capacity, height, testosterone levels, whether they used testosterone blockers or not, it doesn’t take away the puberty that a man has. . Especially Lia who swam three years as a man“said the swimmer.
Gaines declared that she felt “extremely uncomfortable” because Thomas shares a dressing room with her and the rest of her companions, since she forces them to change “with someone who has different parts”. “It wasn’t something that they warned us about, which I think was unfair in a lot of ways,” he said.. “Not only do we have to compete with a man, we are forced to change with one in the locker room. We are sitting there not knowing who to talk to, who to complain to… all this happened from behind and very discreetlyGaines protested.
In the United States, the case has sparked a real controversy. in the field of sport. Some question Gaines, alleging that her speech is hilarious, others support her. The tension escalated so much that last month, the FINA (International Swimming Federation)governing body of world swimming, made the decision to ban all transgender swimmers from participating in ‘elite’ women’s events to begin their transition after they have passed puberty as males.
Last June, Thomas responded to criticism very similar to what she receives today, saying that she “doesn’t need ‘nobody’s permission’ to be herself, and He considered it inconsistent that some swimmers claim to support her “as a woman”, but do not accept her right to compete in women’s swimming. “I’m not a doctor, but there are many differences between female athletes, there are some who are very tall, who have more muscles and have higher testosterone, and that’s why should they disqualify them too?“, claimed the swimmer.
Lia Thomas competed in the men’s division in 2018-19. There, she placed 554th in the 200-yard freestyle and now ranks fifth. In the 500-yard freestyle, Thomas was ranked 65th in the country. Now, she ranks first. Finally, in the 1650 freestyle she is now ranked 8th in the nation, up from 32nd in the men’s division.
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