Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas will not take advantage of the opportunity for a female athlete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Thomas, the biological male who won a women’s national championship in 2022 while swimming for Penn, officially lost a legal battle against World Aquatics in which Thomas argued that its ban on competing against women was “invalid and unlawful.”
The 25-year-old was banned from swimming in the women’s category in the summer of 2022 when the sport’s governing body prohibited anyone who had gone through “any part of male puberty” from competing against biological women.
World Aquatics welcomed the court’s decision to uphold the rule keeping Thomas out of the women’s pool, calling it “a major step forward in our efforts to protect women’s sports.”
“World Aquatics is dedicated to fostering an environment that promotes equity, respect, and equal opportunity for athletes of all genders, and we reaffirm this promise,” the organization said, according to The Guardian .
It’s worth noting that World Aquatics has not banned transgender athletes from participating. The organization has introduced an open category for transgender swimmers. This new category debuted during last year’s World Cup in Berlin, but received no entries.
Lia Thomas with Outkick’s Riley Gaines after winning an NCAA title against biological females. (Photo by Rich Von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Thomas, who was an average swimmer at best when competing against men, is no longer a member of USA Swimming, making the court’s decision against a policy change to benefit them very easy.
“The panel concludes that since the athlete is not entitled to participate in the ‘elite event’ within the meaning of USA Swimming policy, let alone compete in a WA meet, which occurs by registering with WA prior to a meet or by establishing a performance that leads to an application for registration as a WA world record, he is simply not entitled to participate with the eligibility to compete in WA meets,” the tribunal said, according to WA media.
“The political and operational requirements simply aren’t met by their current state.”
The U.S. Olympic Trials will begin on June 15 in Indianapolis and, for the first time, will be held on a football field at Lucas Oil Stadium.
In 2022, when ESPN and ABC honored Thomas during Women’s History Month, Thomas sat down with “Good Morning America” and made it clear that the 2024 Olympics were on her mind.
“Swimming in the Olympic trials has been a long-standing goal of mine, and I would love to see that happen,” Thomas said.
Fortunately, common sense has prevailed, and the women will have the opportunity to compete on the women’s swim team and represent the United States in Paris.
