{"id":494413,"date":"2021-12-31T08:03:45","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T15:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=494413"},"modified":"2021-12-31T08:03:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-31T15:03:45","slug":"controversy-of-the-year-transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-swims-fastest-times-in-the-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/controversy-of-the-year-transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-swims-fastest-times-in-the-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy of the Year: Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas Swims Fastest Times in the Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Controversy of the Year: Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas Swims Fastest Times in the Nation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The most heated issue in swimming this year only emerged in the last two months of the year as University of Pennsylvania senior <strong>Lia Thomas<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/lia-thomas-transgender-swimmer-from-penn-swims-fastest-times-in-nation-controversy-brewing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recorded the fastest times in college swimming in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle as well as an elite performance in the 1650 freestyle<\/a>. Those performances caused a stir because of Thomas&#8217; stauts as a transgender athlete. She competed for the Penn men&#8217;s team for three years before completing the required one year of &#8220;testosterone supression treatment&#8221; in order to be eligible to compete as a female.<\/p>\n<p>At the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/results\/pdf\/2021-zippy-invitational-ncaa-college-2021-12-03.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zippy Invitational<\/a> in early December, Thomas swam times of 4:34.06 in the 500 free (seven tenths ahead of Arizona State\u2019s <strong>Emma Nordin<\/strong>\u00a0as the country\u2019s top swimmer), 1:41.93 in the 200 free (six tenths clear of Stanford\u2019s\u00a0<strong>Torri Huske\u00a0<\/strong>for the No. 1 spot) and 15:59.71 in the 1650 free (sixth in the country). While she is swimming slower than her lifetime bests from her days on the men\u2019s swim team, she has already achieved \u201cA\u201d cuts for the NCAA Championships. Her 200 and 500 times are actually faster than the winning times at last year\u2019s NCAA Championships.<\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, Thomas\u2019 impressive performances\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/12\/07\/upenn-transgender-swimmer-lia-thomas-continues-dominant-season-with-more-record-breaking-wins\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">have raised controversy<\/a> from those who believe that Thomas\u2019 sex at birth should disqualify her from competing in female sporting events, despite the NCAA\u2019s rules on athletes who are transitioning. The key question is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/allowing-lia-thomas-to-compete-at-ncaa-championships-would-establish-unfair-setting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">whether rules designed to allow transgender athletes to participate in college athletics ensure a level playing field and are fair to cisgender female athletes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas is not the first collegiate swimmer to come out as transgender and make the switch between programs at their respective schools, but she is the first swimmer to approach championship-level swimming after undergoing a gender transition.<\/p>\n<p>A group of Penn parents have joined the debate by writing numerous letters to the school, the Ivy League Conference and the NCAA arguing against Thomas&#8217; participation in women&#8217;s sports because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/penn-swimming-parents-write-letter-to-ncaa-against-lia-thomas-participation-in-womens-events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">she underwent male puberty prior to transitioning<\/a>. They also argued that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/penn-parents-express-further-concerns-over-lia-thomas-competing-on-womens-team\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">her participation takes away opportunities from her cisgender teammates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas has fulfilled all NCAA requirements to compete in women&#8217;s events, so she is competing fully within the rules. However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-potential-impact-of-transgender-swimmers-beyond-ncaa-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">it is unclear if she would be eligible to compete in USA Swimming competitions or beyond should she decide to continue her swimming career past this college season<\/a>. Thomas has not been a member of USA Swimming since she transitioned, and according to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaswimming.org\/docs\/default-source\/diversity-inclusion\/templates-tools\/transgender-materials\/final-p-p-proposal-_clean_-9-13-18-kprindle.pdf?sfvrsn=6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USA Swimming documentation adopted in May 2018<\/a>, any athlete seeking \u201cto participate in swimming in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity and expression\u201d would have to follow a seven-step process that includes extensive documentation and review from an Eligibility Review Panel that takes into account medical eligibility.<\/p>\n<p>The International Olympic Committee has also made changes to its policies around transgender athletes competing in women&#8217;s sports. The organization debuted a <a href=\"https:\/\/stillmed.olympics.com\/media\/Documents\/News\/2021\/11\/IOC-Framework-Fairness-Inclusion-Non-discrimination-2021.pdf?_ga=2.195521836.1048075235.1637092563-834742310.1637092563\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10-point framework<\/a> that would determine how to handle specific circumstances involving a transgender athlete.<\/p>\n<p>After she came out as transgender, Thomas admitted that she was unsure about what her swimming career might look like following her transition, but she said that she has found relief in the pool.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe process of coming out as being trans and continuing to swim was a lot of uncertainty and unknown around an area that\u2019s usually really solid,\u201d she said, according to a story published <a href=\"https:\/\/penntoday.upenn.edu\/news\/game-pieces-culture-wars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><em>Penn Today<\/em><\/em><\/a> over the summer. &#8220;Realizing I was trans threw that into question. Was I going to keep swimming? What did that look like?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The debate around Lia Thomas and whether she should be allowed to compete has only begun recently, and it will surely stretch into 2022 as she will be a favorite to capture individual NCAA titles this March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Controversy of the Year: Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas Swims Fastest Times in the Nation The most heated issue in swimming this year only emerged in the last two months of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":493509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[122077,6],"tags":[129951,51820],"class_list":["post-494413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americas","category-college","tag-lia-thomas","tag-transgender"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - 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