Lia Thomas, a biologically male University of Pennsylvania swimmer, has been winning competitions and breaking records while competing against women, but a teammate of the transgender swimmer told Outkick that many on the team are displeased with the situation.
“Pretty much everyone individually has spoken to our coaches about not liking this. Our coach [Mike Schnur] just really likes winning. He’s like most coaches. I think secretly everyone just knows it’s the wrong thing to do,” the female swimmer noted in a phone interview, according to the outlet, which granted the woman anonymity.
“When the whole team is together, we have to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, go Lia, that’s great, you’re amazing.’ It’s very fake,” the team member said, according to Outkick.
Thomas, who in prior seasons competed against men, has been making waves since switching to compete against women.
Recently, at the 2021 Zippy Invitational, Thomas “won the 1,650 free with a new program, meet and pool record time of 15:59.71,” according to Penn Athletics. “Thomas won the race by more than 38 seconds with teammate Anna Kalandadze finishing second at 16:37.44.”
Thomas “won the 200 free with a pool, meet and program record time of 1:41.93. She won the race by nearly seven seconds and her time was the fastest in the country,” according to Penn.
“During the prelims, she set a new pool and meet record in the 500 free. In the finals she swam more than 12 seconds faster, finishing in first place with a time of 4:34.06. That time is currently the best in the country in the event. Her mark was also a new program record,” Penn Athletics noted.
According to the NCAA, in order to compete on a women’s team without shifting it to a mixed team status, a transgender female must undergo one year of testosterone suppression treatment.
“When I have kids, I kinda hope they’re all boys because if I have any girls that want to play sports in college, good luck. [Their opponents] are all going to be biological men saying that they’re women,” the female teammate said. “Right now we have one, but what if we had three on the team? There’d be three less girls competing.”
Transgender ideology remains a topic of signifiant cultural contention, with debates over issues such as whether biological males who identify as females should be permitted to utilize women’s restrooms or compete in women’s sports.