‘I AM a woman!’ Trans UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas defends competing against biological women and claims she doesn’t care about winning despite regularly wiping the floor with opponents whose parents say she is eliminating them from the sport
- Lia Thomas, 22, spoke to Sports Illustrated for an article published Thursday
- Thomas was born male but transitioned to become female in 2020
- Before then, she had competed in the men’s swimming team at UPenn
- Now, her female teammates’ parents say she is eliminating them from the sport
- Thomas has broken records for the fast female swimming times in the country
- Sports Illustrated said she ‘insists’ she doesn’t care about winning or competing and simply ‘loves’ to swim
- One parent told the magazine: ‘We can’t stand by while she re-writes records and eliminates biological women from the sport’
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has defended competing in the female category
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has defended competing in the female category and claims she does not care about winning, despite regularly wiping the floor with opponents who were born girls.
Lia transitioned from male to female and is now competing for UPenn’s women’s team.
Her participation in the team has been widely criticized by people who say she has an unfair physical advantage.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published on Thursday, she defended her place in the team.
Parents of her teammates told the magazine however that she is ‘eliminating women from the sport’.
‘I’m a woman, just like anybody else on the team. I’ve always viewed myself as just a swimmer. It’s what I’ve done for so long; it’s what I love.
‘I get into the water every day and do my best,’ she said.
Lia Thomas competing in a swim meet on January 8, 2022
The magazine writer said Lia ‘insists’ she does not care about winning or setting records.
‘The very simple answer is that I’m not a man. I’m a woman, so I belong on the women’s team.
Thomas formerly competed in the men’s team and started taking hormone therapy in 2019-2020. The pandemic gave her a break in the sport and she proceeded with transition therapy. She is shown in 2017
‘Trans people deserve that same respect every other athlete gets,’ she said later in the interview.
‘I don’t look into the negativity and the hate. I am here to swim.’
Few have spoken out against her for fear of being booted out of the team, but one parent told Sports Illustrated: ‘We support Lia as a trans woman and hope she leads a happy and productive life, because that’s what she deserves.
‘What we can’t do is stand by while she rewrites records and eliminates biological women from this sport.
‘If we don’t speak up here, it’s going to happen in college after college.
‘And then women’s sports, as we know it, will no longer exist in this country.’
Lia competed as a man until 2020, when the pandemic put a halt on college and school sports.
She then used the break to proceed with advance with hormone therapy and returned for the women’s team in 2021.
In a December swim meet, she swam the fastest time recorded in the country.
In her interview, Thomas told of using the pandemic to transition to female.
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