Lia Thomas
Lia Catherine Thomas (born May 1999)[2] is an American swimmer. He was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship, having won the women's 500-yard freestyle event in 2022. During his swimming career, Thomas has been part of the public debate about transgender women in women's sports.[3][4][5]
Lia Thomas | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Thomas in 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| Born | May 1999 (age 26) | ||||||||||||||
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA) | ||||||||||||||
| Known for | First openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Legal challenge
In January 2024, Thomas opened a legal challenge to the World Aquatics gender inclusion policy. The policy was introduced in 2022, which allows trans women to compete in the women's category as long as any male puberty was stopped by age 12 or Tanner Stage 2. Thomas' challenge argued that this policy is discriminatory.[6][7] In June 2024, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Thomas did not have standing to challenge the policy, meaning he wouldn't be allowed to compete.[8][9]
References
- ↑ Jenkins, Sally. Lia Thomas's Swimming Is Getting Swamped in Others' Fears. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/03/17/lia-thomas-ncaa-swimming-championships/. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
- ↑ Sanchez, Robert (2022-03-03). "'I Am Lia': The Trans Swimmer Dividing America Tells Her Story". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
- ↑ Witz, Billy (January 24, 2022). "As Lia Thomas Swims, Debate About Transgender Athletes Swirls" (in en-US). The New York Times. . https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/sports/lia-thomas-transgender-swimmer.html. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ↑ Levenson, Eric (2022-02-23). "How an Ivy League swimmer became the face of the debate on transgender women in sports". CNN. Archived from the original on January 9, 2023. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ↑ Ingle, Sean (December 13, 2021). "Sport's trans issue is here to stay. But at last, the debate is starting to change". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2021/dec/13/swimming-trans-debate-starting-to-change. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
- ↑ Close, David; Tucker, Emma (2024-01-27). "Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas begins legal case against swimming's world governing body". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
- ↑ Webb, Karleigh. "Lia Thomas has filed challenge to World Aquatics' trans ban, confirms Court of Arbitration for Sport". OutSports. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
- ↑ Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas loses legal challenge in CAS ruling, USA Today, June 12, 2024
- ↑ "Lia Thomas v. World Aquatics" (PDF). Court of Arbitration for Sport. 10 June 2024.