NCAA Appears to Give Lia Thomas Green Light to Compete at Championships

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NCAA Appears to Give Lia Thomas Green Light to Compete at Championships

Although the NCAA declined to confirm on Tuesday whether Lia Thomas has officially been given the green light to compete at the NCAA Women’s Championships, it appears the University of Pennsylvania swimmer will race at the meet in Atlanta. A transgender woman, Thomas has been the center of controversy for the past two-plus months, with debate raging over whether she should have the chance to compete against biological females.

The NCAA released its pre-meet psych sheets on Tuesday, and Thomas was listed as an entrant in the 100-yard freestyle, 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. She is the top seed in the longer events, based on her performances from early December at the Zippy Invitational in Ohio. She won all three of her NCAA entries at the recent Ivy League Championships.

When the season started, Thomas was in compliance with an NCAA rule that required transgender women to have undergone hormone-suppressant therapy for at least a year prior to competition. The NCAA rule, though, was based on early 2010s science and controversy erupted, primarily concerning the advantages held by Thomas due to undergoing male puberty. In response to arguments over Thomas’ participation in a women’s sport, the NCAA indicated it would follow USA Swimming’s guidelines to determine transgender eligibility.

USA Swimming eventually announced the adoption of new guidelines that required transgender women to have a testosterone threshold of 5 nmols/L for 36 consecutive months. The NCAA, in response, indicated it would not follow USA Swimming’s guidelines and stated that it would require athletes to produce a testosterone threshold of 10 nmols/L prior to the NCAA Championships. The average testosterone threshold for a female is .5 to 2.4 nmols/L.

Whether Thomas produced that requirement is unknown, as the NCAA declined to comment, even to the simple question of whether Thomas will be allowed to compete. Yet, with her name on the psych sheets, it appears Thomas will be eligible to race in Atlanta.

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SETH
SETH
2 years ago

Best of luck to all of the competitors

clay kennedy
clay kennedy
2 years ago

Greatest female swimmer of all time…what a joke. NCAA has done more to damage women in one act than I thought possible. Basically ladies, you don’t matter. Holy crap.

Carla Foster
Carla Foster
2 years ago
Reply to  clay kennedy

It is a man!

Carla Foster
Carla Foster
2 years ago
Reply to  Carla Foster

Very much a joke!

Carla Foster
Carla Foster
2 years ago
Reply to  clay kennedy

Unbelievable!

Marina
Marina
2 years ago

Women need to take the knee and let him race by himself.

Ken
Ken
2 years ago

And the Oscar for a male playing a female role goes to Lia/Will Thomas

Chuck
Chuck
2 years ago

Women in collegiate sports had a good go of it under Title IX, for 50 years. In the year of that 50th anniversary we are seeing the beginning of the end. Insanity has gobbled up a recognition of the objective and irrefutable differences between men and women and substituted in its place a delusional view that the way someone feels prevail over realty. If the article is accurate, the NCAA still has a chance to do the right thing but I’m not holding my breath.

Bill
Bill
2 years ago

Women need to own this. They’ve spent the last decade feminizing men to the point, some men believe they are women. Be careful what you wish for.

Men have a P, women have a V. Biology doesn’t change. Sorry.

Carla Foster
Carla Foster
2 years ago
Reply to  Bill

Yep, you are what you were born as no matter the amount of freaking hormone replacement! HE was born and man and he’s still a man! Did he quit the mens team because he couldn’t beat men? Lol

Louis E.
Louis E.
2 years ago
Reply to  Bill

Nobody is angrier about the inclusion of “trans women” than the radical feminists,who in turn are the enemy-number-one of the transmaniacs.
The women who fight for women are NOT the ones to blame for this!

Billy
Billy
2 years ago

What a joke this meet will be if they let a 6’3″ fully physically developed man swim against the women swimmers. This is completely unfair and WRONG. At this time, it appears that the NCAA does not have the backbone to make the one and only correct decision. It’s all about the money because the NCAA is afraid of getting sued by Thomas and “her” supporters. I could go on and on but let’s just say I’m absolutely disgusted if Thomas is allowed to swim. What happens if she breaks an American record for women? Will it stand? This is unbelievable….

Carla Foster
Carla Foster
2 years ago

Born a male and belongs on the man’s team!

Ricky V
Ricky V
1 year ago
Reply to  Carla Foster

he cant even make that team!

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