Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win a major NCAA championship in 2022.
Following Donald Trump’s groundbreaking decision, Lia Thomas’ swimming times will be deleted from records and her medals will be withdrawn.
In 2022, Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA national championship, the top college title in swimming.
Her triumph has sparked debate over the last three years, with incoming President Trump taking a harsh stance after entering office earlier this year.
In one of his first acts as president, Trump issued an executive order prohibiting transgender women from competing in female sports categories.
The directive, which mostly affected high schools, universities, and grassroots sports, was backed by a warning from the President, who indicated that organizations that did not comply risked losing federal funds.
In July, the University of Pennsylvania, where Thomas won her NCAA gold medal, agreed to exclude transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.
They announced that they would change their record books for the 2021-22 season to suit current requirements.
A legal battle has erupted in recent months, with the US Office for Civil Rights (OCR) ruling that the university violated Title IX, a historic rule enacted in 1972 that outlaws gender discrimination.
The US Department of Education said on Tuesday that the university had ‘engaged into a resolution agreement to resolve its Title IX infractions’, according to PinkNews.
It will also’send a personal letter of apology to each affected female swimmer’.
Thomas’ records will be erased, with the exception of her timing in the 4x100m relay race.
https://x.com/SportsCenter/status/1504608440219582471
The administration has now dismissed a civil rights action in which it alleged that the university ‘discriminated against cis[gender] women by permitting Thomas to compete following her transition’.
In a statement, UPenn stated that their own policies during the 2021-22 season were ‘in compliance with NCAA eligibility requirements at the time’, adding: “We accept that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these limitations. We accept this and will apologise to individuals who were at a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety as a result of the policies in place at the time.”
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