Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas says she belongs on the women’s team, is eyeing 2024 Olympics
- Thomas said she is not focused on her success, but critics argue she has an unfair advantage over cisgender athletes
- ‘I just want to show trans kids and younger trans athletes that they’re not alone,’ Thomas says
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas says she “belongs on the women’s team” after more than a dozen teammates said she shouldn’t be allowed to compete.
“The very simple answer is that I’m not a man. I’m a woman, so I belong on the women’s team,” Thomas, a 22-year-old transgender woman, told Sports Illustrated in an interview published on Thursday. “Trans people deserve that same respect every other athlete gets.”
Thomas, a senior student-athlete, competed on the men’s team for three seasons. After completing two years of hormone replacement therapy, Thomas competed on the women’s swim team in the 2021-22 season in dominant fashion. At the Ivy League championships last month, Thomas won the 100m freestyle, 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle.
Thomas said she is not focused on her success – “I get into the water every day and do my best” – but critics said she has an unfair advantage over cisgender athletes. Thomas said she does not “look into the negativity and the hate,” but has unwillingly become the face of the national debate on transgender athletes’ inclusion in sports.
In February, 16 of Thomas’ teammates anonymously sent a letter to the school and the Ivy League stating Thomas should not be allowed to compete because she could break “Penn, Ivy, and NCAA Women’s Swimming records; feats she could never have done as a male athlete.”
“We fully support Lia Thomas in her decision to affirm her gender identity and to transition from a man to a woman. Lia has every right to live her life authentically,” read the letter, which was obtained by The Washington Post.