Part 1: The Story of Lia Thomas

On March 17, 2022, Lia Thomas won first place in the women's 500-yard freestyle at NCAA's D1 championship. You may think this is a normal occurrence since someone has to come in first place in any sporting event.  Lia Thomas is a trans women. With Lia being the first trans women to win a NCAA title, this has caused a great debate among swimmers and fans of the sport determining whether it was fair for Lia to even compete as a woman in the first place. Many people, even her own teammates, have come out against her believing she has an unfair advantage and taking away opportunities for other women. While others have no problem or otherwise support her competing in women’s events. 

Before we go any further with this story, let’s learn a little more about Lia Thomas. Lia Thomas was born William Thomas. While swimming in high school, Lia was an All American and top swimmer within the state of Texas. When it was time for Lia to make her college decision, she decided to go to University of Pennsylvania where her older brother, Wes Thomas attended college and swam as well. During her freshman year, Lia swam on the men’s team. She had set many personal records. In 2018, She also made the top eight finisher for 500-yard freestyle, 1,000-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle at the her first Ivy League Championship. As a sophomore, she finished second overall in three events during the Ivy League Championship. All though Lia was top 3 in at Ivy League Championships, she was never able to make NCAA championships as a man (this is an important detail for the arguments later). 

Lia was doing great, swimming wise, but on the inside, she was having a mental crisis. She been struggling with her identity since her senior year of high school. She says she “disconnected from her body.” She did some research on these feeling she was having. She read stories of trans women and found a trans mentor on campus at Penn. The summer going into her sophomore year, she decided that she was no longer a man but a woman. First, she told her family, who were very accepting and supportive of the news. She wouldn’t come out to her teammates and coaches until months later. During this time, she became depressed. Lia started to train less and not attend classes. The fear of coming out took over her life so much to the point where she basically isolated her from her friends and teammates. After putting off hormone replacement treatments in fear of it ruining her swimming career, in May of 2019, she started her first record of hormone replacement treatment (HRT). She understood the risk that came with starting HRT, but she was determined to do this for her life.  During her junior year, she came out to her coaches, who were supportive of her decision. The only thing preventing Lia from joining the women’s team at this point is NCAA’s policy on HRT and transgendered athletes.

In August of 2011, the NCAA released a report addressing the concerns of the inclusion of transgender student athletes. NCAA addresses athletes who are undergoing HRT and those who are not undergoing HRT. For a trans male undergoing HRT, they “may compete on a men’s team but is no longer eligible to compete on a women’s team without changing that team st
atus to a mixed team.” For a trans female undergoing HRT (the category Lia Thomas falls under), They “may continue on a men’s team and may not compete on a women’s team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment.” In Lia’s case, she had not completed a year of HRT so she was ineligible to compete on the women’s team. 

For her junior year, Lia swam with the men’s team but competed in women’s suits. On New Years of 2020, she began to use the name, Lia Thomas. Then Covid happened costing her senior year. In summer practice of 2021, she began to realize the changes within her body. At this point, she been doing HRT for two years now and finally able to compete on the women’s team for her last year of eligibility. This is where the controversy starts. As a woman, Lia was dominating in the pool. She had NCAA best times, set new Penn records, and set new personal best for herself. At this point, she was seconds away from beating Katie Ledecky’s 500-yard freestyle time and Missy Franklins’ 200-yard freestyle time. In November of 2021, these achievements caught the attention of some of the Penn swimmers’ parents who then wrote an anonymous letter to NCAA, explaining why Lia shouldn’t be able to compete on the women’s team. This letter was then leaked to Daily Mail which added more fuel to the fire. Now the whole world knew what was going on at Penn and everyone had something to say about it. By the end of the season, Lia would go on to win first place in her three main events and set five records at the Ivy League Championships. The problem is Lia Thomas was winning too much and many of her other female competitors and even teammates were not here for it.