The protest against the NCAA decision to amend the transgender law was signed by 310 former and current participants of the academic organization’s swimming competition. Athlete Ally – an organization dedicated to representing LGBTQ + groups in sport – inspired the writing of the open letter. One of the people who signed the appeal was Schuyler Bailar, the first transgender man to compete in any competition under the aegis of the NCAA.
The NCAA did not want Thomas in their championship
“Through this letter we express our support to Lia Thomas and to all academic transsexual athletes who deserve to compete in a safe and friendly environment. We urge that no political pressure is allowed to arise. it will threaten the safety and well-being of academic athletes anywhere in the country, “we read.
Lia Thomas, who until 2019 competed in the men’s category, set many of the University of Pennsylvania women’s records and qualified for the national championships at 200, 500 and 1650 yards freestyle. She established the best results of the season on the last two distances. But in January her participation in the March championship was put into question. At that time, the NCAA announced that it would admit female players to the competition under the rules of the national federations of each sport.
Soon after, Swimming – an American swimming association – decided that only those transgender women who maintained their testosterone levels of five nanomoles per liter of blood for 36 months in a row were allowed to participate. These regulations are much stricter than those established by the International Olympic Committee, which requires transgender women to maintain a level of 10 nanomoles per liter of blood 12 months before launch. But the IOC has left the door open for the sports federations to lay down their own rules on the matter, which may be stricter than the Olympic ones if they only seek to level the rivalry.
According to the new regulations, Lia Thomas could not participate in the national championship, because – as she declares – she has maintained low testosterone levels only for 33 months.
NCAA changes decision: Lia Thomas can compete in the championship
However, on Thursday – and according to Polish time on Thursday night – the NCAA made a decision that it would not change the rules of qualifying for the competition and Lia Thomas would be allowed to participate in the championship. However, the decision is motivated not by the pressure of the public opinion, but by the recommendations of the Committee for the Safety of Competition and Medical Aspects of Sport.
“The Commission has decided that implementing additional changes at this time could have an unfair and potentially detrimental effect on academies and student athletes intending to compete in the 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming Championships,” the NCAA release said.
Thomas ‘list of 310 supporting athletes was released days after 16 University of Pennsylvania national team players published another open letter opposing Thomas’ admission to compete in women’s competitions. The players did it anonymously.
In the letter they wrote, inter alia, that they fully support the gender identification of Thomas, but believed that “the question of biological gender is separate from gender identification when it comes to sport and competition”. They pointed out that Thomas immediately moved up from 462th place in the men’s category to number 1 in the women’s category. “Biologically, Lia has an unfair advantage over her competitors in women’s competitions. When she is allowed to compete with us, she can now break university, Ivy League (University of Pennsylvania league) and NCAA records. she wouldn’t have a chance among men. “
The players protest, but prefer to be anonymous. “Who will be concerned about our health?”
The players added: “We support Lia’s mental health, but we ask the University of Pennsylvania and the Ivy League to care the same for ours. Sport is competitive by definition, but Lia shouldn’t win, break records, and earn honors at our expense. At the expense of women who have worked all their lives to win a spot on the University of Pennsylvania swimming team. “
This is not the first time that teammates have criticized Liê Thomas. In January, one of them – also anonymously – told the Daily Mail about her feeling of discomfort when she shares the dressing room with Lia Thomas, who the athlete says is not always able to cover her genitals. – We were told that we could not ostracize Lia and ask her to leave the locker room. Nothing can be done about it. We have to go over it and accept it, or we cannot use our own changing room. It’s frustrating because Lia doesn’t seem to care how we feel in her presence. ”The player added that Lia is dating girls.
– The university is focused to make sure that Lii is doing well and is doing everything possible for her. But he doesn’t think about the rest of us at all, she added.
Lia Thomas can become a great swimming star. Ledecky and Franklin Records Endangered
The spokeswoman for the athletes from the University of Pennsylvania is Nancy Hogshead-Makar, a three-time Los Angeles Olympic champion and feminist activist. For 30 years she worked for the Women’s Sports Foundation, of which she was even the president. Then she founded Champion Women. Now he explains why the swimmers, who question Thomas’ rivalry with women, do not want to reveal their names. – Whenever they expressed any discomfort or wanted to talk about it with the university authorities or their trainers, they were immediately silenced. They can’t say anything. They were told that if they did, they would never get a job again because corporations would scroll through their names and say: We don’t want a transfer. They were told there was nothing they could do about it, says Hogshead-Makar.
Lia Thomas could undoubtedly be the biggest star of the March NCAA championship. Experts believe that if he prepares the top form for this competition, he may break the academic records of the great Olympic multi-women – Missy Franklin (200 yards) and Katie Ledecky (500 and 1650 yards). “The great times she achieved early in the season suggest she will attack both Franklin and Ledecky’s records at the NCAA Championships,” wrote John Lohn of Swimming World Magazine.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
