Lia Thomas is a 25 year old transgender swimmer who won a national title in womens swimming and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022. She recently began a law suit agaist the institution that ruled that trnasgender athletes would not be allowed to compete in the Olympic games. She now plans to attend law school. Thomas was born male, and she swam her whole life, but in her freshman year of college, she transitioned to female. She then competed with the female swimmers and won a national championship in 2022. There was some controversy surrounding the national title due to Thomas being born a male, but the newest issue involving Thomas is much larger.
World Aquatics recently made the decision to ban transgender athletes from performing in the highest level of competition, the Olympics. This means that Thomas will not be allowed to compete in the Paris Olympic Games this summer.
After this decision, Thomas hired Carlos Sayao from the Tyr law firm in Canada. Thomas’s goal is to convince the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn this new rule. The official rule disqualifies transgender swimmers from competing unless they transitioned before the age of twelve. The rule came just a few months after Thomas won her national title in 2022, and it would appear that she is the target of this rule.
Sayao claims that this rule is discriminatory and harmful to transgender women and athletes. The Court of Arbitration released a statement on their website confirming the legal suit, and it reads as follows:
Junior swimmer Sophie Morgan said, “I think [trans athletes] shouldn’t be able to compete with the gender they choose because biologically males have more of an advantage, and they’re just built differently than women.”
“Ms Thomas accepts that fair competition is a legitimate sporting objective and that some regulation of transgender women in swimming is appropriate. However, Ms Thomas submits that the Challenged Provisions are invalid and unlawful as they discriminate against her contrary to the Olympic Charter, the World Aquatics Constitution, and Swiss law including the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; and that such discrimination cannot be justified as necessary, reasonable, or proportionate to achieve a legitimate sporting objective.”
Senior track athlete Andie Rasmussen said, “I would question why they wanted to transition over to female sports, as if it was more of just a winning thing.” Rasmussen voiced her concern for the validity of the reasons that an athlete would transition, claiming that it is wrong for an athlete to transition for the athletic advantage, rather than affirming their gender identity.
The outcome of this suit could determine the future for transgender athletes and women’s sports. The debate of the fairness of a trans athlete competing against cis women has long been debated, but the future of the industry is at stake
