University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, center, qualified for Thursday's 500-yard final at the Washington (AFP) - Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas was the fastest qualifier for Thursday's 500-yard freestyle final at the US collegiate women's swimming and diving championships in Atlanta. The trans athlete at the center of a media firestorm is eyeing the Olympics after she graduates. Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas powered to a historic victory in the 500-yard freestyle at the US collegiate championships in Atlanta on Friday in the latest milestone win of her controversial career. So after a year of HRT, Thomas submitted medical documentation and was approved to compete for the womens team for the 2020-21 season, she said. She participated as Will. Thomas arrived to Penn in 2017 and quickly made a mark on the mens team as a freestyle distance swimmer in the 500-yard, 1,000-yard and 1,650-yard races. Swimming next to her in lane 5, Stanford's Brooke Forde stayed within half a. "It means the world to be here, be with two "With this letter, we express our support for Lia Thomas, and all transgender college athletes, who deserve to be able to participate in safe and. [5] Earlier that same year, swimmer Lia Thomas sparked a national debate after becoming the first trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship. Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, finishes the 200 yard Freestyle for the University of Pennsylvania at an Ivy League swim meet against Harvard University A transgender swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania who recently dominated a swim meet was slammed by a teammate who claimed she. [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. Last month she wrote the letter, purportedly on behalf of 16 unnamed Penn swimmers, who said Thomas had an unfair advantage. The Austin, Texas, native began swimming at 5 years old and was a star athlete long before her gender transition. She fell in national rankings once she started HRT in her junior year. The crowd of family and friends cheered politely, and Thomas posed for photos with Penn teammates and shook the hands of her closest competitors. Although some pundits have suggested that Thomas is destroying competitiveness in womens swimming events, after winning several races this season, data on finishing times suggests that this is not the case. Please wait, loading. Its a really honestly I dont know what to say, he said, stumbling over his words. Yet the ink had barely dried on that framework document when the US college swimmer Lia Thomas caused a fresh splash in the debate. Matthew Fitzpatrick: Girlfriend| Wife| Father| Is gay| Wikipedia, Adam Hadwin: Winnings| Money list| Moose jaw| How old is. Its not healthy for me to read it and engage with it at all, and so I dont.. 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." But, Thomas said . Lia Thomas ended an intense week of scrutiny with a hug. " Luca's Restaurant Somerset, 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. An anonymous letter purportedly written on behalf of 16 of her 40 Penn teammates earlier this month criticized what they saw as her unfair advantage, saying they supported her gender transition out of the pool but not necessarily in it. Competing in her 40s, she rose to become the 20th-best woman tennis player in 1979. Lia Thomas is a transsexual woman. the right thing and admit that they were wrong & that much more has to go into this before people like Lia can. "[48] 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps said that "I believe that we all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin, but I think sports should all be played on an even playing field" and "I don't know what that looks like in the future. On March 3, Iowa became the 11th state to pass a law forbidding trans women from competing in women's sporting events. from what territory was yugoslavia created 8; The NCAA allows trans men to compete on the womens team so long as they have not had hormone therapy. Im talking a small slice of competitive sports.. Lia Thomas has become the first transgender swimmer to win an NCAA championship after she blitzed her rivals to win the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday, but the victory has again initiated a debate as to the Thomas' right to compete against biologically-born women. It is discriminatory and will only serve to harm all women. 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. FINA members widely adopted a new gender inclusion policy on Sunday that only permits swimmers who transitioned before age 12 to compete in womens events. - Advertisement -. University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history after winning the women's Thomas competed on Pennsylvania's men's team for three years before transitioning and moving to the women's team, setting multiple programme records. She would have finished first again in 2021, as Paige Madden won that with a time of 04:34.61. Seconds after edging Yale's Iszac Henig to win the 100-meter freestyle title at the Ivy League After taking a moment to towel off, the transgender swimmer for Penn turned to her right and embraced Henig, a transgender man who swims for Yale's. It's the first season this announcement has been played before events, said Ivy League spokesperson Lia Thomas (right) and a University of Pennsylvania teammate ahead of the 500-yard freestyle race at. She won first place in March 2022 despite controversy over her being biologically male. "[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". [33][34][35][36] In response to the decision, Thomas said: "The new FINA release is deeply upsetting. She started on hormone replacement therapy in May 2019 and came out as trans that fall, yet she still had to compete on the mens team. Lia Thomas Swimming Controversy refers to a transgender woman named Lia Thomas who competed for the University of Pennsylvania in the 2022 women's NCAA swimming championship. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Thomas, who previously swam for the men's team before transitioning to female in 2019 and sparking a national debate, finished the race with a time of 4:33.24, more than a full second ahead of. Some wonder, though, how long women will have separate sports if men can take hormones for a year and then dominate their teammates based. The letter also indicated they believe sex should be considered separately from gender identity during competition. Lia Thomas, now competing for the Penn women's team after previously swimming for the men's team And Thomas is even rising in the all-time rankings: her 200 free performance makes her the Thomas is not the first collegiate swimmer to come out as transgender and make the switch. See all. Lia Thomas's swimmer profile, including times, results, and more. Lia Thomas smiles on the podium after winning the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday. Having already come out to her family and friends, Ms Thomas began hormone replacement therapy in 2019 despite concerns about how it might affect her body and ability. Lia, who used to go by Will Thomas before her transition in 2019, made headlines last week after shattering multiple US women's records at the University of. [7], Towards the end of high school, Thomas began to question her gender identity. Breaker The Magical Warrior Banned, 2017. She recently rose to prominence after destroying the majority of female university records. Lia Thomas. With each victory, Thomas, a transgender woman who previously swam for Penns mens team, has brought renewed attention to the ongoing debate on trans womens participation in sports and the balance between inclusion and fair play. But outside these chlorine-splashed walls, her season-long Thomas arrived to Penn in 2017 and quickly made a mark on the men's team as a freestyle distance swimmer in the 500-yard, 1,000-yard and 1,650-yard races. With a calm and cool demeanor, she did precisely what was expected of her. Lia Thomas stood tall and smiled wide atop the championship podium, her nearly 6-foot-4 frame pushing her head past the top of the Ivy Leagues green photo backdrop. And the waves she makes are only going to get bigger when she dives into the pool at the NCAA championships on. She was born a boy and underwent gender reassignment surgery to change her gender. [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. Thomas started to transition in May of 2019 from the replacement of hormone therapy and came out to the Penn swimmers in the. 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. As. The University of Pennsylvania swimmer was the meets highest-scoring swimmer, setting stage for next months NCAA championships, where she is favored to win the 200- and 500-yard freestyles. "[43], In January 2022, the University of Pennsylvania, multiple organizations affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and the Ivy League issued statements supporting Thomas. She is now an NCAA top fighter in all of those events if she competes in them at the collegiate championships. Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes. Read the deep dive on Trans swimmer Will Thomas at ESPN Lia can be anything she wants, but it's garbage to think it's fair for her to compete against the other girls in women's sports - and she knows that. The letter was organized by the organization Athlete Ally and Schuyler Bailar, a former Harvard swimmer who became the first transgender man to compete on a NCAA Division I mens team in 2015. We love you. Her times in the 500-yard freestyle and the 1,650-yard freestyle were among the top 100 in the country. [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. A trans rights activist, Bailar said the outrage against Thomas inclusion on the team was not really about questions of sporting fairness. 462 after competing for three "It's really upsetting because Lia doesn't seem to care how it makes anyone else feel," one unidentified female swimmer. Some wonder, though, how long women will have separate sports if men can take hormones for a year and then dominate their teammates based. Thomas' performance inside of the pool has sparked a greater discussion about transgender athletes this year. Austin, TX. Thomas, 22, kicked off the three-day event, held at the University of Akron, strong in the preliminaries Friday. A day later, Henig and Thomas struck up a conversation at the far end of the pool, chatting and laughing as they leaned against the pool ropes. Since at least the 1930s, the bodies of elite women athletes have been publicly scrutinized, leading athletic bodies like the International Olympic Committee to implement various forms of sex testing to determine if women were eligible to compete. [28] By the conclusion of Thomas's swimming career at UPenn in 2022, her rank had moved from 65th on the men's team to 1st on the women's team in the 500-yard freestyle, and 554th on the men's team to 5th on the women's team in the 200-yard freestyle. [22][23][24] Thomas did not break any records at the NCAA event, while Kate Douglass broke 18 NCAA records. The issue of transgender women competing in college swimming contests is dividing the sporting world, with some pundits saying transgender athletes competing against cisgender women is unfair and damaging competitiveness in the sport due to "biological advantages." Social media erupted in criticism after Penn Swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male who identifies as female, crushed the competition on Thursday evening, taking first in the NCAA Women's Thomas competed against males before switching over to women's sports after identifying as a woman. The mainstream media still are not reporting most, but sports news cannot ignore the fact that soccer players and other stars collapse in the middle of a game due to a sudden cardiac arrest. 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. Lia Thomas, swimming for the first time this season as a transgender woman, made more history Thursday ATLANTA In the seconds after becoming the first known transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I championship, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas lingered alone in. In the preliminaries for the 100 freestyle, Thomas finished tenth. One spectator directly called out transgender swimmer Lia Thomas before he crushed his female competitors. Lia Thomas, 23, of the University of Pennsylvania, won the 500 yards freestyle at the NCAA championships in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday. Ohio State Alumni List, supersonic burrito vs ultimate meat and cheese. Joe Biden probably thought his executive order last week, Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Individuals, was a winner twice over. They started happening and ramping up after the first COVID vaccinations. British Olympic swimmer and silver medallist Sharron Davies also argued Thomas shouldn't be allowed to compete in female swimming. In the women's 500-yards freestyle in 2022, Thomas came first with a time of 04:33.24. Beginning in 2021, she became part of the public debate about transgender women in sports. 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. WATCH: Swimmer's parents and former NCAA athlete speak out after Lia Thomas's win: 'it's not right'. Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas has made headlines so far in the NCAA season by giving several record-breaking performances after completing the first year as a woman. Thomas finished first in the race in Atlanta on Thursday, with her time of 4. USA Swimming has released a new policy for female competitors as it addresses the furor over transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, according to Sky News host Peta. The University of Pennsylvania swimmer became the first transgender athlete to win a National Collegiate. University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas set a new Ivy League record at a meet in Ohio. She is not even the lone trans athlete to win a race in the same pool at Harvard. At a meet including Princeton and Cornell on Nov. 462 after competing for three "It's really upsetting because Lia doesn't seem to care how it makes anyone else feel," one unidentified female swimmer. They have remained in contact, though he declined to go into detail on their conversations. Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas reportedly made an arrogant comment about how "easy" one of her races against female opposition was. Penn's Lia Thomas swims under water. Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas completes historic win, National Education Association Political Contributions. lia thomas swimmer ranking before and after. Lia Thomas, whose real name is William, took a huge lead in the second half of the race and finished in 4 minutes, 37.32 seconds, which is three seconds better than his personal best and three-tenths of a second faster than the pool record. But some organizations, such as the. Yet in January, a month after Thomas record-setting pace at the Invitational, the NCAA said it would take a sport-by-sport approach to its rules on transgender athletes participation and defer to each sports national governing body. But outside these chlorine-splashed walls, her season-long Thomas arrived to Penn in 2017 and quickly made a mark on the men's team as a freestyle distance swimmer in the 500-yard, 1,000-yard and 1,650-yard races. [13] In March, Colorado representative Lauren Boebert introduced a bill co-sponsored by 20 other Republicans that honors Weyant. 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