NRO reports “A group of University of Arizona swimmers that includes former Olympians wrote a letter of concern last month to the NCAA after transgender athlete Lia Thomas’s sweep at the recent women’s championship in Atlanta, where Thomas, a biological male, outperformed and out-placed multiple female competitors.”
Per the report:
Sent in late March to the NCAA Board of Governors, the athletes said that the collegiate governing body “has successfully failed everyone” by allowing Thomas, who has distinct biological advantages, to compete against women to “appease everyone.”
Thomas “catapulted a team to a top-20 program in the country after failing to score a single point last year,” the letter alleges.
The letter asks of the sports organization: “Do we have a voice?”
“It’s hard to express the anguish the women’s swim community has experienced this past week watching the 2022 NCAA Swim & Dive Championships. On one hand, we feel we are witnessing irrevocable damage to a sport that has transformed our own identities for the better. On the other, we have reconnected with each other in sisterhood after many busy years living our lives beyond the water’s edge,” the authors write.
University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines recently spoke out on being tied for 5th with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the NCAA championships in the 200 yard freestyle.
Thomas told Tucker Carlson while appearing on Fox News “I know I can’t speak for everyone but I’m almost certain that I’m speaking for large majority of female athletes and this is just not okay. And it’s not fair. We’re dealing with something that’s completely out of our control when we’re racing, biological males whether they have different lung capacities, their height, testosterone levels whether they’ve used testosterone blockers are not.”
“It doesn’t suppress going through puberty as a male. Especially Lia who swam for three years as a male. It’s completely unfair and it’s a matter of equity really,” she added.
To add insult to injury there was only ONE 5th place trophy and it was give to Lia, as she was told they were being “given in chronological order,” which she argued made no sense.
“he NCAA official came up to me, and he said, ”Hey, that was a great swim. We only have one fifth place trophy,” which I understood, I get how that works. But he said, ”We’re gonna have to give the trophy to Lia.”‘
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