Lia Thomas is addressing claims that transgender athletes enjoy a âcompetitive advantageâ in womenâs Sports.
ABC Newsâ Juju Chang noted during an interview with Thomas that aired on Tuesday, âThere are some who look at the data and suggest that youâre enjoying a competitive advantage.â
âWhat do you say to that?â Chang asked.
Thomas responded, âThereâs a lot of factors that go into a race and how well you do. And the biggest change for me is that Iâm happy.â
âAnd sophomore year â where I had my best times competing with the men â I was miserable. And so having that be lifted is incredibly relieving and allows me to put my all into training, into racing,â the swimmer continued.
Thomas went on:
âTrans people donât transition for athletics. We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors in to our decisions.â
Chang asked, âYou didnât transition to win more medals?â
âNo,â Thomas responded.
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Chang noted that 16 of Thomasâ teammates wrote anonymous letters that argued âThomas posed a threat to womenâs Sports.â
She also pointed out that the swimmers stated they âabsolutely support your right to transition, but they simply think itâs unfair for you to compete against cisgender women.â
âYou canât go halfway and be like, âI support trans women and trans people but only to a certain point,'â the swimmer responded.
Thomas added, âWhere if you support trans women as women have met all the NCAA requirements, then I donât know if you can really say something like that. Trans women are not a threat to womenâs Sports.â
Thomas sparked controversy earlier this year after winning a 500-yard freestyle event by 1.75 seconds, with Emma Weyant coming in second place. The competition is the first known time a transgender athlete won a national Division I championship.
