The Free Press has an exclusive report today about a lawsuit filed by sixteen female athletes against the NCAA. Not all of the athletes involved are swimmers but most are, making Lia Thomas a focus of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, the first federal action of its kind, seeks to change the rules, rendering any biological males ineligible to compete against female athletes. It demands the NCAA revoke all awards given to trans athletes in women’s competitions and “reassign” them to their female contenders. It also asks for “damages for pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, suffering and anxiety, expense costs and other damages due to defendants’ wrongful conduct.”
In 2022, Thomas clinched the 500-yard freestyle title at the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships and was named All-American in all three events Thomas participated in. Thomas first competed for the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s swim team as a male from 2017 to 2020 but never reached the NCAA championships during that time. After two years on hormone therapy, Thomas switched to the women’s team, trouncing female competitors in both sprint and endurance races.
One of the participants is Réka György who lost out on being an All-American because of the inclusion of Thomas.
To win an All-American title at the championships, swimmers must post one of the 16 fastest times out of 30 competitors in the preliminary races or “heats” for their respective events. In 2022, Réka György placed 17th in the 500-yard freestyle race. Thomas went on to win the final of that event by a second and a half, beating three other women who were Olympic medalists.
“I was shocked,” said György, recounting the moment she sat on the bleachers and watched as Thomas touched the wall in the last heat, officially knocking her out of the final. “I stopped hearing voices and everything just went blank. One of my coaches told me he was sorry, and that’s when I started crying. I just broke down.”
Two years ago, György wrote a letter to the NCAA expressing her frustration over the situation:
I swam the 500 freestyle at NCAA’s on March 17th, 2022 where I got 17th which means I did not make it back to the finals and was first alternate. I’m a 5th year senior. I have been top 16 and top 8 before and I know how much of a privilege it is to make finals at a meet this big. This is my last college meet ever and I feel frustrated. It feels like that final spot was taken away from be because of the NCAA’s decision to let someone who is not a biological female compete. I know you could say I had the opportunity to swim faster and make the top 16, but this situation make it a bit different and I can’t help but be angry or sad. It hurts me, my team and other women in the pool. One spot was taken away from the girl who got 9th in the 500 free and didn’t make it back to the A final preventing her from being an All-American. Every event that transgender athlete competed in was one spot taken away from biological females throughout the meet.
The NCAA knew what was coming this past week. They knew opinions and minds will be divided and chose to do nothing. This week has been more about reporters, media and division in our sport than things like two women going under 21 seconds in the 50 freestyle, 3 women going under 50 seconds in the 100 butterfly and the first women IN HISTORY to go under 49 seconds in the 100 backstroke. Thursday was not a specific athlete’s fault. I tis the result of the NCAA and their lack of interest in protecting their athletes.
She got many responses to that letter, including some death threats but never got anything back from the NCAA. That’s why she decided to join the lawsuit. So we’ll have to wait and see where this goes, but it’s not the only lawsuit on this issue. Lia Thomas filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a decision by governing body World Aquatics which disallowed Thomas from competing in the Olympics.
Lia Thomas, the swimmer at the centre of one sport’s biggest transgender storms, has been mounting a secret legal challenge against the ban on her competing in elite women’s races – including at the Olympics.
Telegraph Sport can reveal that Thomas has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland to overturn rules brought by World Aquatics after the American became the first openly transgender person to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I title.
It seems to me that the tide has been slowly turning on this issue thanks in part to Lia Thomas and the backlash from other swimmers. Eventually I think sanity will prevail but it’s remarkable how little of it there has been up to now.
Here’s an interview György and Gaines gave to the Free Press about the lawsuit.
