This week, Alaskan swimmer Lydia Jacoby of Seward returns to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, to continue the journey to defend her Tokyo gold medal at the Paris Games.
She and the other female swimmers at the trials won’t have to compete against Lia Thomas, the male swimmer who earned his notoriety by swimming on the women’s team or the University of Pennsylvania and taking an NCAA trophy as a woman in 2022, robbing the other competitors of their rightful standings.
Thomas, who towers over most female competitors, swam into the wall of the Summer Olympics’ Court of Arbitration this week, as it said Thomas lacks standing to compete at the games in Paris next month.
“The panel concludes that she lacks standing to challenge the policy and the operational requirements in the framework of the present proceeding,” the court said Wednesday in its ruling.
Thomas became well known in 2022. After swimming in the men’s division, he started taking hormones to feminize himself and joined the women’s swim team at the University of Pennyslvania. Last year, he won the NCAA championship in the 500-meter freestyle — as a woman.
While University of Pennsylvania and the NCAA allowed Thomas to switch divisions, that’s where his swimming career appears to end.
The 25-year-old male-to-female transgender is banned from swimming as a female by the sport’s governing body in the United States.
Thus, the Olympic court, in a 24-page decision, said Thomas is “simply not entitled to engage with eligibility to compete in WA [World Athletics] competitions” because he isn’t a member of USA Swimming.”
In 2022, World Aquatics, the international governing body, also banned transgenders who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s competitions. Instead, it created an “open” category for transgender athletes.
To be clear, the Olympic Court of Arbitration is disqualifying Thomas because he is disqualified by his own nation’s swimming governing body. He is not being disqualified because he is a man.
With the ruling announced Wednesday, Thomas cannot participate in Olympics qualifying trials in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 15-23.
Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky collegiate swimming champion who has become an advocate for women and girl athletes, said the decision was “a victory for women and girls everywhere.”
Gaines, who visited Alaska earlier last year to promote the protection of women’s sports, took an elbow from NBC News, which criticized her by saying she had “misgendered” Thomas in her comments.
“Actually, @NBCNews, it would be you who misgendered Thomas. When a naked man exposes his p*nis to me & a room full of naked, vulnerable girls non-consensually, a gun to my head wouldn’t make me call him a ‘she’ now. Thomas is a man, therefore his correct pronouns are he/him,” Gaines wrote in response.
“The CAS decision is deeply disappointing,” said Thomas in a statement provided by his legal team. “Blanket bans preventing trans women from competing are discriminatory and deprive us of valuable athletic opportunities that are central to our identities. The CAS decision should be seen as a call to action to all trans women athletes to continue to fight for our dignity and human rights.”
