issued an unequivocal statement that Thomas would be
allowed to swim.
At least two Penn swimmers who support Thomas con-
fronted a teammate at practice, accusing the woman
of spreading rumors. The woman, a Penn parent told
SI, denied she was the leak. “These women no longer
trust one another,” one parent says. “Everything has
fallen apart.”
“It’s mean,” one Penn parent who identifies as a pro-
gressive but opposes Thomas’s eligibility says of the
online and media bigotry directed at her. “Lia is a human
being who deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.
But it’s not transphobic to say I dis-
agree with where she’s swimming.”
That argument is disingenuous
to Thomas. There is no such thing
as half-support: Either you back her
fully as a woman or you don’t. “The
very simple answer is that I’m not a
man,” she says. “I’m a woman, so I
belong on the women’s team. Trans
people deserve that same respect
every other athlete gets.”O
N JAN. 24 , Hogshead-Makar
organized a 90-minute virtual
meeting to discuss legislative
remedies that would prevent trans
women from participating in wom-
en’s collegiate sports. More than
250 people attended the session,
which Hogshead-Makar allowed SI
to join on the condition that guests
weren’t identified and that quotes
were not attributed to anyone.
These were heavy hitters within
the sport: former Olympic swim
champions, current and former
collegiate swimmers and coaches,
Penn parents, and several current
members of the USA Swimming
board of directors.
They discussed possible federal
legislation on the issue of trans ath-
letes and eligibility. Some wondered whether Georgia—
the site of the championships—could pass a law in time
that would ban athletes such as Thomas from competing
against other women. (Similar legislation has been passed
in at least 10 states.) The idea of a swimmer boycott of
championships was discussed. The idea got little trac-
tion. “We need to be able to talk about these issues in a
way where people don’t think they’re going to get torn
to pieces, personally or professionally, over this,” says
Dave Salo, a former USC coach who attended the meeting
and later talked to SI. “I’m sure Lia is a great woman, and
I’m sure she’s genuine with the reasons why she wants
to swim. But we have to be honest about the physicaladvantages she has, and it has to be O.K. to say that.”
Four days before the video call, the NCAA essentially
punted on the issue of transgender athlete eligibility.
Previously, the organization had a uniform access pol-
icy based on a minimum one-year hormone therapy
requirement. But in January the NCAA pushed eligibility
guidelines to each sport’s national governing body. That
meant USA Swimming would decide on Thomas’s ability
to swim in the NCAA championships.
USA Swimming released new guidelines on Feb. 1,
laying out a series of requirements and establishing a
three-person medical panel to determine whether trans-
gender women have “a competitive
advantage over the athlete’s cisgen-
der female competitors.” The new
guidelines set a ceiling testosterone
level of five nanomoles per liter—half the threshold used by previous Olympic rules—that
transgender athletes would need to register, continuously,
for 36 months before applying to swim as a woman.
By the NCA A championships, Thomas would be on
her HRT regimen for only 34 months. It was easy for
Thomas’s supporters to see USA Swimming’s decision
as a direct rebuke intended to keep her from swimming
at the NCAAs.
USA Swimming officials say Thomas’s eligibility
played no role in its decision-making. The organization
for months had been working on its transgender policies
after the IOC dropped previous guidelines concerning
68 trans women athletes.
LI
ATHOMASFUTURE FOCUSED
With her college career
behind her, Thomas has her
sights on law school—and
possibly the 2024 Olympics.