{"id":496408,"date":"2022-02-02T11:03:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=496408"},"modified":"2022-02-02T11:03:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T18:03:00","slug":"penn-teammates-express-full-support-for-lia-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/penn-teammates-express-full-support-for-lia-thomas\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn Teammates Express \u2018Full Support\u2019 for Lia Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penn Teammates Express \u2018Full Support\u2019 for Lia Thomas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Members of the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s women\u2019s swimming and diving team this week released a statement in support of teammate Lia Thomas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The statement was first reported by ESPN<\/a>, and a copy of the full statement was provided to Swimming World.<\/em> Though it wasn\u2019t specifically signed by any number of athletes, the statement appears to reflect a broad swath of the Quakers\u2019 team.<\/p>\n

The statement:<\/p>\n

As members of the Penn Women\u2019s Swimming and Diving team and teammates of Lia Thomas, we want to express our full support for Lia in her transition. We value her as a person, teammate, and friend. The sentiments put forward by an anonymous member of our team are not representative of the feelings, values, and opinions of the entire Penn team, composed of 39 women with diverse backgrounds. We recognize this is a matter of great controversy and are doing our best to navigate it while still focusing on doing our best in the pool and classroom.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is the closest to an on-the-record declaration of support as has come from the program. The Ivy League, various members and the University of Pennsylvania signaled their support for Thomas in January<\/a>. Head coach Mike Schnur<\/strong> and members of the swim team have not granted interviews since the start of the season.<\/p>\n

The statement counterbalances reported criticism from teammates or parents, all of it being voiced anonymously, objecting to Thomas\u2019 participation. The swimmers\u2019 support follows a statement from 16 law organizations at Penn<\/a> in favor of Thomas\u2019 right to compete, as well as comments made by American Olympian<\/a> and Stanford All-American Brooke Forde.<\/strong><\/p>\n