Lia Thomas

Three college swimmers who were beaten by transgender rival Lia Thomas staged a protest on the podium after being beaten, with Ms Thomas being booed loudly ...

Ms Weyant, who won the 400m individual medley silver at the Tokyo Olympics, finished 1.75secs behind in second while Erica Sullivan was third. Ms Thomas swam for the Pennsylvanian men's team before beginning hormone replacement therapy in 2019. Emma Weyant, who came second, received cheers from the crowd.

Thomas became the first transgender champion in Division I history following victory in Atlanta on Thursday but was met with podium protests.

Lia Thomas, 22, came fifth in the 200 yard freestyle on Friday night at the NCAA competition - a day after becoming the first transgender NCAA champion ...

Lia Thomas, who became the first transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship Thursday, has qualified second for the Friday night final in ...

"Like anyone else in this sport, Lia has trained diligently to get to where she is and has followed all of the rules and guidelines put before her. Yellow barriers lined the sidewalk and additional security was present. And he stole a place from multiple women. 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." Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship Thursday when she captured the 500 freestyle. Like anyone else in this sport, Lia doesn't win every time.

Transgender UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas defeated Virginia freshman Emma Weyant in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday night at the NCAA Championships.

And just try to block out everything else.” The University of Pennsylvania student, believed to be 22, competed at the NCAA Championships and finished first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:33.24. Lia Thomas is the first openly transgender athlete to become Division I national champion in any sport after the swimmer posted a program-record time.

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history after winning the women's 500-yard freestyle ...

And just try to block out everything else." "I try to focus on my swimming, what I need to do to get ready for my races. "I try to ignore it as much as I can," Thomas added.

A look back at the past four months of news regarding Lia Thomas in the leadup to her NCAA Championships win in the 500 freestyle.

Lia Thomas has once again made history as she became the first openly trans person to win a NCAA swimming title.

Lia Thomas looks on after winning the 500 Yard Freestyle during the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championship. (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) Lia Thomas looks on after winning the 500 Yard Freestyle during the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championship. (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first trans woman to win an NCAA swimming competition in Division I on Thursday.

However, she faced scrutiny inside and outside the sport about if transgender women and girls should be allowed to participate in female sports. “I didn’t have a whole lot of expectation for this meet,” Thomas said. The race was close until the last 100 yards with Virginia’s Emma Weyant finishing second at 4:34.99.

The first victory by a transgender athlete in the prestigious American college swimming championships has prompted fresh calls for a protected sporting ...

Please update your billing details here to continue enjoying your access to the most informative and considered journalism in the UK. Please update your billing details here to continue enjoying your subscription. Victory for Lia Thomas intensifies debate around transgender swimmers competing against biological womenThomas celebrates with the trophy after finishing first in the 500 free at the NCAA Womens Swimming & Diving Championships at Georgia TechThe first victory by a transgender athlete in the prestigious American college swimming championships has prompted fresh calls for a protected sporting category for biological women.

Penn swimmer Lia Thomas struggled in the 200-yard free, a night after becoming the first openly transgender person to win a Division I national title.

One night after becoming the first openly transgender person to win a Division I national championship, in the 500-yard free, Thomas struggled from the beginning of the race and came up more than two seconds short of completing a sweep of the two events in which she entered as the top seed. Earlier this year, USA Swimming changed its requirements for trans competitors, mandating three years of low testosterone levels. Stanford's Taylor Ruck was the winner.

Prior to the start of the 2022 NCAA Women's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, Olympian and NCAA contender Erica Sullivan commented on the Lia ...

They’re very supportive of who I am as a person, and I just feel bad that Lia doesn’t have that.” At the NCAA championships, I’ll be cheering on Lia and all of the amazing swimmers that make this sport great by being authentically and proudly themselves.” I feel like I’m in an environment at Texas where I’m accepted by everyone here,” Erica Sullivan said. 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. Like anyone else in this sport, Lia doesn’t win every time. All swimmers embody a diverse set of identities and characteristics.

Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, who on Thursday became the first transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship, tied for fifth in the 200-yard ...

Few members of the swimming community have gone on the record with their opinions about Thomas and the inclusion of transgender women in women's sports, but that ice has begun to thaw throughout the championship meet. Entering Friday's final, Ivey's 1:41.35 was the fastest time in the event and also the McAuley pool record. And if that's what Lia needs to do to live her best life, that's up to Lia." Ruck quickly got out to a lead, and Thomas was seventh at the first turn. Thomas trailed behind as Ruck and Ivey scrapped for the lead out front. It was the second time a pool record was set in the 200 freestyle at the NCAA championships.

Lia Thomas became first known transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship in any sport after finishing the 500-yard freestyle for Penn.

Two known groups who were protesting outside of the national qualifiers and finals at Georgia Tech, Save Women’s Sports and Concerned Women for America, sported T-shirts and signs with phrases like “that man is a cheat,” per ESPN.Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky still holds the women’s 500-yard freestyle record by a long shot — bettering Thomas’ finish in the national finals by nine seconds — and USA Swimming updated their policy in February to require that transgender athletes must undergo HRT for 36 months and test under a certain testosterone ceiling to be eligible to compete in women’s races. They did speak out against vitriol Thomas has found herself on the wrong end of.While there’s certainly a nuanced discussion to be had about trans athletes’ eligibility, particularly in women’s sports, protestors, pundits, politicians, and parents have used Thomas’ spot on the Penn women’s swim team to be openly bigoted and incredibly offensive toward transgender people. “It’s a symbol of Lia’s resilience,” Schuyler Bailar, who at Harvard became the first known transgender man to compete on a Division I men’s team, told ESPN. “The fact that she’s able to show up here, despite protesters outside, people shouting and booing her, I think it’s a testament to her resiliency.Thomas began swimming at Penn in 2017 on the men’s team.

There is no doubt that transgender athletes such as Thomas have shown tremendous courage in the face of ridicule, scorn and discrimination. They should be ...

“Being among the first to lead such a social change requires an enormous amount of courage.” She hasn't expressed any qualms about competing against Thomas, even telling Swimming World that ““I feel bad for Lia because imagine being on a team where you know some people don’t want you there.” You have to be very, very good at what you do to win a championship. “This pivot to protecting women's sports and protecting Title IX is just a new front they've opened up when they couldn't win the bathroom bill fights.” She notes the relatively small transgender population, which shrinks even further when considering how many play high-level sports. “She went from not being able to even qualify for the NCAAs as a male to being a national champion as a female. I want them to have full acceptance,” Hogshead-Makar said. Competing as a male at the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas had some success but nothing of national significance. Fourth place went to Stanford’s Brooke Forde, who earned an Olympic silver in the 4x200 free relay. “She didn’t go from being 500th as a male to 500th as a female,” Hogshead-Makar said. Hogshead-Makar considers herself a liberal on social issues. Pennsylvania's Lia Thomas competes in a preliminary heat in the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships Thursday, March 17, 2022, in at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

Jenner, 72, who competed in the 1976 Olympics and transitioned to female in 2015, said she has 'no problem with Lia Thomas,' but with the NCAA for allowing ...

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas finished tied for fifth Friday in the women's 200-yard freestyle final at the NCAA swimming and diving ...

Lia Thomas came fifth on Friday night in the NCAA championships 200 yard freestyle - a disappointing result for the transgender swimmer who was seeded ...

Speaking on trans UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, a Virginia Tech student revealed her teammate was 'hearbroken' after missing out on the NCAA Championships.

Although I can’t speak for them.” “And it was just heartbreaking to see that she put all their effort into it today, and with the best time that she’s went in the morning session before, and still not make it back. A Virginia Tech student has broken her silence and spoken out against Lia Thomas after her teammate lost her place in the NCAA Championships to the transgender swimmer.

Thomas finished just nine seconds behind Katie Ledecky's 500-yard freestyle record of 4:24.06.

"We filed a formal civil rights complaint against UPenn in response to this injustice." And just try to block out everything else "It means the world to be here ... I try to ignore it as much as I can," Thomas said after race, ESPN reported.

Thomas has divided swimming, with supporters hailing her rise and others, including Olympic great Tracy Stockwell, asking to balance inclusivity with ...

She did not attend the mandated press conference, while her win was reportedly greeted with muted applause as she told a poolside interviewer it “meant the world” to be able to compete.What has become clear is that Thomas is in for the long haul and the swimming world must adjust to her presence, regardless of the critics that include sporting luminaries like Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.“The very simple answer is that I’m not a man,” she told Sports Illustrated. ”I’m a woman, so I belong on the women’s team. In this case, they cite her large hands, legacy male strength and a suggested increased aerobic capacity.Among those with concerns is Tracy Stockwell, a triple Olympic champion who also happens to be the president of Swimming Australia (SA), as well as sit on the board of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics. It was in a personal capacity, not on behald of SA, that Stockwell added her name to a 5000-plus strong joint petition asking for the sanctity of women’s sports to be preserved, while at the same time welcoming and finding ways to accommodate trans competitors.It calls upon “legislatures and sports governance organisations to prioritise fairness and safety for females over blanket transgender inclusion or exclusion in girls’ and women’s competitive sports. Both petitions ask that legislative bodies and sports organisations ensure that females receive equal opportunities to participate in competitive sports, in the same fair and safe competitive environment as afforded to male athletes.”Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas smiles after winning a preliminary heat at the NCAA.“I believe in developing policies that ensure it’s inclusive, fair and equitable for all females, including those who identify as female, to be involved in swimming at all levels,” Stockwell told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. “We need to develop policies with medical experts in the field alongside all relevant stakeholders to drive this inclusion.”Transgender athletes in Olympic sports is nothing new. She doesn’t own a world record, nor a world titles crown, and hasn’t so much as swum for her country, let alone in a national championship.Her name is Lia Thomas, a 22-year-old from Texas who is a fifth-year senior at the University of Pennsylvania. On Friday (AEDT), she became the first transgender swimmer to win a division one NCAA swimming title, the pinnacle of US college sport, amid fervent debate surrounding the eligibility, fairness and future rules governing transitioning athletes.Starting favourite in the 500 yard (457m) freestyle, Thomas blitzed the field to hit the wall first, as she has been doing all season at meets against fellow Ivy League universities. Her time of 4:33.24 seconds was almost two seconds clear of the runner-up Emma Weyant, a silver medal winner in the 400m individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics.To put her win in perspective, that time sits well behind the 4:24.06 mark of American swimming legend Katie Ledecky. But Thomas’ rapid rise from middling male swimmer to a dominant force in female freestyle at the elite college level has fractured large sections of the sport, divided commentators and sent governing bodies like FINA scrambling to enact suitable policies that bridge the complex gap between inclusivity and a level playing field.Thomas has become major news in the US, with a lengthy profile in Sports Illustrated charting her journey from a swimmer on the Penn men’s team from 2018-2020, through hormone therapy and a return to the pool as a woman in 2021.“I just want to show trans kids and younger trans athletes that they’re not alone,” she told the magazine. “They don’t have to choose between who they are and the sport they love.”Along the way, she has garnered a mass of support, with her university, the Ivy League, transgender advocacy groups and hundreds of fellow and former swimmers backing her right to compete in women’s races.Others have pushed back hard, arguing athletes who spent the vast majority of their life as biological males have inherent advantages over their female rivals.