Penn swimmer Lia Thomas has been the talk of the sports world for the past few months. Last week, she won the 500-yard NCAA women’s championships by 1.75 seconds. Thomas’ NCAA championship performance has stirred up quite the debate. Earlier this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called out Thomas.
“By allowing men to compete in women’s sports, the NCAA is destroying opportunities for women, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter. “In Florida, we reject these lies and recognize Sarasota’s Emma Weyant as the best women’s swimmer in the 500y freestyle.”
Thomas’ win elicited a polarised reaction from the crowd, with some people clapping as others booed when she stepped onto the podium to collect her medal – a difference of opinion that has also been echoed on social media.
Jenner, who publicly came out as a trans woman in 2015, has taken to Twitter to criticize the outcome of the championships, saying that it would be ‘common sense’ if 20-year-old Weyant had won.
Responding to a TMZ news story about Governor Ron DeSantis ‘denouncing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’ NCAA championship win’, in which he was quoted as saying Weyant was the ‘rightful winner’, Jenner tweeted: “@GovRonDeSantis agreed! She is the rightful winner!”
She added: “It’s not transphobic or anti-trans, it’s COMMON SENSE!”
On 17 March, after Pink News tweeted to say that Jenner had launched ‘yet another disgraceful attack on trans athletes without a hint of irony’, the former Olympian also tweeted: “No, I just had the balls to stand up for women and girls in sports.”
Two days later, she posted to say that the industry needs ‘federal legislation protecting women’s sports’, and that she would be ‘eager and willing to work with members of Congress to put an end to this politically correct “woke” madness!’ This, she said, would help protect the integrity of women in sport.
Trans women must have had low testosterone levels for 36 months in order to compete, according to a new policy introduced by USA Swimming earlier this year.
Despite only having received 34 months of treatment at the time, Thomas had already filed for the championship, leaving her fate in the air.
But the NCAA subcommittee wrote in a statement: “Implementing additional changes at this time could have unfair and potentially detrimental impacts on schools and student-athletes intending to compete in 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships.”
The NCAA subcommittee further said that ‘they proposed policy and ongoing debate about the future of transgender athletes ‘will be part of the subcommittee’s future analysis when recommending additional updates to eligibility requirements’.
After her victory, Thomas told Former Olympian and ESPN reporter Elizabeth Beisel, that she tries her best to ‘ignore’ her critics and her controversy, saying: “I try to ignore it as much as I can, I try to focus on my swimming and what I need to do to get ready for my races and I just try to block out everything else. It means the world to be here, to be with two of my best friend and teammates and be able to compete.”
Source: unilad.co
