{Lia Thomas, a Transgender Swimmer, Will Not Compete in Women’s Events

The NCAA has backed away from its regulatory role with regards to transgender athletes and has not formally ruled on Thomas’ eligibility to compete in women’s events. But advocates for the sport say that transgender athlete legislation is necessary and urgent. The swimmer, who is a woman, began hormone replacement therapy in May of this year and is in her first season on the women’s team. She won both the 100m freestyle and 200m freestyle races against Harvard last weekend and set records in both.
} Thomas, a transgender woman, was accepted onto the Penn men’s swimming team last fall. The debate roiled over whether or not transgender athletes should be allowed to compete at elite levels is more complicated than ever. The Ivy League canceled the 2020-21 season, but Thomas has been a member of the women’s team since the fall of 2018. She also lost muscle mass and strength after undergoing hormone therapy.

The NCAA has a policy on transgender athletes competing at the elite level. The organization will evaluate the swimmer’s physical development before the transition and determine if it gives them an unfair advantage over cisgender competitors. Testosterone levels in the transgender’s blood must be less than five nanomoles per liter for three years to qualify. The new policy will apply to any athlete who is 13 years old or older, competing at high levels at any competitions nationwide.

Lia Thomas, a transgender woman competing on the Penn women’s team, became a focus of controversy over the transgender inclusion in sports. Her case sparked the NCAA and USA Swimming to amend their policies. The controversy has been exacerbated by right-wing outrage and has spawned a social media backlash. It seems unlikely that the NCAA will decide to allow Lia Thomas to compete on the men’s team.

The NCAA’s rules prohibit transgender athletes from competing in men’s events, but the Ivy League has not decided yet on whether to allow them to compete in women’s events. Until this change happens, the transgender swimmer will not be allowed to compete on the men’s team and must take testosterone-suppressing drugs for 12 months. But this does not mean that she won’t compete on the women’s team.

The controversy surrounding Thomas’s decision to compete on the women’s team has fueled the discussion of transgender inclusion in sports. Although she has been using hormone therapy for two and a half years, she only has limited competitions this season. Despite her mediocre performance, she remains the fastest woman in the world in the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle. As a fifth-year senior, she joined the women’s team last fall.

The controversy involving Thomas’s inclusion in women’s swimming has turned into a heated debate on gender identity in sports. Yale’s transgender swimmer, Lia Thomas, has been denied eligibility in men’s swimming events since she began hormone therapy, and the team has cancelled its 2020-21 season after she began competing on the women’s team. The NCAA’s policy has been met with a backlash from the right, with many athletes citing the need for transparency in sport.

In addition to competing in women’s competitions, Thomas is also a part of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team. She competed on the men’s team from 2017-20, but switched to the female team in the latter’s sex. Even though she retains her biologically male genitalia, she is attracted to women. Her teammates have even reportedly told her that they have started dating a woman, making her a transgender swimmer in the Ivy michael phelps swimmer..

This season, Lia Thomas is the first transgender female swimmer in the NCAA division I level. She competes on the women’s team, and her success is controversial. The NCAA has changed its policy to allow her to compete on the men’s team, but she won’t be able to race on the women’s team. This will lead to the end of her college career. The NCAA hasn’t yet ruled on her eligibility to participate in the next two years.

The transgender swimmer’s performance has provoked a backlash against men swimming against women. Moreover, the incident has revived debates over the 2010 transgender policy in the NCAA. The law permits men to compete on the women’s team after a year of testosterone suppression. Nonetheless, Thomas’ record-breaking performance has created controversy. But she has been successful in gaining a lot of support from the public and from fellow Penn swim students.