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Lia Thomas Timeline: The Road to a Controversial National Title
Last month in Atlanta, the University of Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas captured the NCAA title in the 500-yard freestyle, becoming the first transgender athlete to capture an individual national title in swimming. Thomas swam a time of 4:33.24 to beat runnerup Emma Weyant of Virginia by almost two seconds, and Thomas will again be among the favorites in Friday’s 200 freestyle.
While the attention on Thomas peaked as she has stepped into the national spotlight, her inclusion in women’s college swimming has been one of the most significant stories in college swimming since December, when she posted the fastest times in the nation in the 200 and 500 free at the Zippy Invitational. Below is a look back at all the significant developments in this story over the past four months.
- 2017-2019: Thomas competes for the University of Pennsylvania as a male, prior to transitioning.
- 2019-2020: Thomas begins transitioning and undergoing hormone therapy. She still competes for the Penn men’s team in a few meets, not including the Ivy League Championships.
- 2020-2021: The Ivy League cancels its athletics for the entire school year. During that time, Thomas continues to undergo hormone therapy, allowing her to become eligible to compete in women’s events under NCAA rules.
- December 3-5, 2021: Thomas swims the fastest times in the nation in the 200 and 500 free at the Zippy Invitational.
- Late December 2021: Penn parents write letters to the school and to the NCAA protesting Thomas’ participation on the women’s team.
- December 24, 2021: USA Swimming official Cynthia Millen resigns in protest of Thomas competing (even though Thomas was not competing in USA Swimming-sanctioned events).
- Late December 2021/early January 2022: U.S. Olympians begin speaking out on the situation; 2021 Olympian Erika Brown was against allowing “transgender females to compete against biological males,” while 2016 Olympian Jacob Pebley urged considerations of mental health in expressing support for Thomas.
- January 8, 2022: Thomas wins two individual events in her final home meet at Penn.
- January 15, 2022: The American Swim Coaches’ Association (ASCA) urges governing bodies to establish new transgender policies in support of fairness.
- January 19, 2022: The NCAA introduces a new transgender participation policy, placing the onus on USA Swimming and FINA to determine regulations for swimming.
- January 20, 2022: USA Swimming releases a statement announcing the NGB was working with FINA to develop new, uniform transgender policies.
- January 22, 2022: Thomas posts two individual victories in Penn’s dual meet at Harvard.
- January 25, 2022: Brooke Forde, one of Thomas’ primary competitors for the national title in the 500 free, says she will not have a problem racing against Thomas at NCAAs.
- February 7, 2022: The Ivy League confirms that Thomas will be eligible to compete at the conference championship meet.
- February 10, 2022: The NCAA announces that it will not adopt USA Swimming’s standard for testosterone levels for transgender athletes (5 nmol/L) at the 2022 NCAA Championships.
- February 17-19, 2022: Thomas wins the 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle at the Ivy League Championships.
- March 1, 2022: The psych sheet for the NCAA Women’s Championship is released, and Thomas is listed as the first seed in two events.
- March 3, 2022: Thomas gives rare public comments in a feature story for Sports Illustrated.
- March 17, 2022: Thomas wins the NCAA title in the 500 freestyle. Protestors both opposed to and supporting Thomas’ participation gather outside the McAuley Aquatic Center.
- Late March: NCAA President Mark Emmert drafts a letter about the protection of transgender athletes while making several false or misleading statements.
Just ridiculous that we have put ourselves in the position where this is even a consideration. Fine for her to identify as a woman if that’s how she’d like to live her life. But every cell in her body is that of a biological male. There is no place for her in women’s sports. Period. Decisions have consequences.
Do you actually know her genetic make up? What if every cell in her body has XXXY chromosomes? Then she is genetically both. There are a wide variety of hormones that affect gender, not just testosterone and estrogen. Are you privy to the levels of each of those hormones in Lia’s cells? If not, then you cannot say every cell in her body is that of a biological male.
so you dont know science i see.
If they had XXXY….they would be participating in a special olympics type of sports situation.
Women’s competitive swimming, and the women who compete in it, do not exist as psychiatric therapy for men who may or may not have gender dysphoria.
Perfectly said.
Why not add a trans women’s and trans men’s divisions along with men’s and women’s ? Are there enough trans athletes at this point in time to do so?
or create an “open” division
How is this much different than the Doped Russian female swimmers of the 80’s that all looked and sounded like men and were stripped of all medals and banned for 4 years. The NCAA has failed these ladies. So sorry for them.
Wbrat65, did you mean German female team?
I am not sure you know the facts.