Lia Thomas’s Olympic ban is a victory for women’s sports
The battle is not won, though. We still need this common sense to be embraced by the NCAA and the USOPC.
My first piece for UnHerd ran today.
And also below!
This week, women’s sports scored a small victory after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) determined that transgender swimmer Lia Thomas would not be eligible to compete in World Aquatics competitions, including the Paris Olympics this summer.
Thomas challenged the current rule, which prohibits anyone who has undergone “any part of male puberty” from competing in World Aquatics meets, demanding that it be overturned in order to allow males who identify as females to compete in women’s sports. CAS said no.
The swimmer has been central to the debate raging about males being allowed to compete in women’s sports. In 2022, Thomas tied Riley Gaines at the NCAA Championships in the 200-yard Women’s Freestyle — before winning an NCAA college gold title in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, beating Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant by 1.75 seconds.
Previously competing as Will Thomas for three years at the University of Pennsylvania, seemingly overnight Thomas switched to the women’s team and jumped hundreds of places in the rankings, beating three Olympic medalists and securing first place in several races at the NCAA Championships in 2022.
As a former elite athlete, I can tell you: that’s not tough training. No amount of physical preparation can drive that kind of leap in the rankings in just one short year. And presumably the training didn’t even change: Thomas had the same coach, the same regimen, and remained at the same university. A 400+ place improvement in one season? Usually, such a jump could be attributed to doping. This time, it was male advantage — which is equally unfair and ought to be banned.
Recognising the fact that male advantage cannot be eliminated, World Aquatics last year created an “open” category to accommodate transgender swimmers. This is further evidence, if any were needed, that no one is banning athletes from competing. That wasn’t good enough for Thomas, however, who saw fit to sue World Aquatics because of its rule prohibiting males from competing in the women’s category.
Yet the decision-makers at World Aquatics live in material reality, and recognise that swimmers such as Thomas have significant physical advantages in strength, speed, and lung capacity versus their female counterparts. That a mediocre male swimmer believes he can challenge the World Aquatics standing rule, when he is free to compete in the open category, is evidence of how far gender ideology has warped our collective thinking. Some of us have endured being called transphobes (and worse) for stating what is perfectly obvious, because truth and bigotry are now treated as near neighbors.
Now, the Court of Arbitration’s ruling has provided a glimmer of hope, a suggestion that we are still somewhat tethered to reality. It indicates that we know, deep down, that trans women aren’t women — that they have all the male physical advantages of being taller, stronger, faster, with a bigger heart and bigger lungs. Trans women are men, and they are free to compete against men.
This small victory follows another in April, when the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) — the governing body for club and intramural sports at the college level — ruled that the women’s category would be protected, and kept for female athletes only. The men’s category would be open to all.
The battle is not won, though. We still need this common sense to be embraced by the National Collegiate and Athletics Association (NCAA) and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), which thus far have been reluctant to crack down on males in female categories. What these organisation fail to understand is that letting males compete in women’s sports is misogyny under the guise of inclusion.
What’s more, it’s worth noting that the Olympic Trials take place next week in Indianapolis. Thomas hasn’t made the USA team yet, and the hubris to challenge the standing rule before this small matter is confirmed is the same hubris required to believe that as a male he gets to compete — and win — against women.
You can call it hubris, or narcissism, or misogyny.
I just call it cheating.
Once in awhile some good news! I did not pay much attention to trans ideology until Riley Gaines swam in the Nationals and was forced to compete against a 6’4 man named Lia Thomas. I was absolutely stunned. Was the Babylon Bee running this event? My son was a very good competitive swimmer and I understand all the hard work and sacrifice that goes into the sport. Lia Thomas, his coach and his parents should be embarrassed. What a disgrace. I attended all my son’s swim meets. I was and still am incredibly proud of him and his accomplishments. Had he declared himself a girl and competed against the girls he would have won every event he swam in ( I think). And I would have been mortified! No way I would have supported such a travesty. How do the parents of Lia Thomas sit in the stadium and support their son doing this? It’s very wrong, and they know it. And Lia Thomas knows it. All his medals should be stripped away and the event results changed accordingly. The NCAA needs to stop with the madness. Same w the Olympic committee. I was just thinking back on how bloody long some of those swim meets were! I would joke with other parents by saying I think I just lived through the longest day of my life :). Now I miss those times!
I hope you hear my applause all the way from Amarillo, TX (formerly, only two months ago, from Woke SW Washington). I am so sick of the incursion of biological males in female spaces. Everyone needs to wake up and quit pandering to the Woke narrative. It is a lie, it not reality, it is not biology. And yes, absolutely, it is CHEATING when it deprives a biological woman the opportunity to compete in women’s competitions. Thank you for your voice and your platform!