Three judges dismissed Lia Thomas’ attempt to overturn a ruling banning her from qualifying for the Olympics

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas won’t be able to compete in the Olympics after losing her legal battle to overturn World Aquatics’s rule change.

The 25-year-old American swimmer was the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle event in 2022.

Lia Thomas contested the rule when it was introduced in 2022 (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

However, World Aquatics later banned anyone who’d ‘been through male puberty’ from competing in women’s races – Thomas having started hormone replacement therapy in 2019.

The new rule was introduced after Thomas won NCAA gold after beating Olympic silver medallist Emma Weyant in the women’s 500-yard freestyle in 2022.

As per World Aquatics’ Competition Regulations – first unveiled that year and updated 1 January 2024 – section 5.5 details the ‘Eligibility for the Women’s Category’.

Section 5.5.2 states transgender women athletes are allowed to compete in its competitions as long as ‘they can establish to World Aquatics’s comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later’.

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Author: awestories24.com