University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas smashed the women’s 500-yard freestyle record at the Ivy League Championships Thursday while cruising to a first-place finish.
As Breitbart’s Warner Todd Huston reported via the New York Post, “Thomas, who is a man and competed as a man for nearly three years on the school’s men’s swim team, won the 500-yard race against a field of women with an unheard of time of 4:37.32, the best time ever recorded at Harvard University’s Blodgett Pool.”
Video of the trans swimmer’s domination quickly began making the rounds on the internet.
Lia Thomas is the @IvyLeague champion in the 500 free. Her time of 4:37.32 is a new pool record.
Catherine Buroker finishes in second.#FightOnPenn pic.twitter.com/ki2SQdxn6Q
— Penn Swimming & Diving (@PennSwimDive) February 17, 2022
It wasn’t long after that video was posted that Twitter users unleashed a torrent of criticism directed at Thomas, the NCAA, and the Ivy League. Chiefly, people were upset that these organizations allowed a male swimmer to compete against and dominate female competitors while enjoying an obvious physical advantage.
90% of people know it's bullshit, they're just afraid to say it.
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) February 18, 2022
500 free final @IvyLeague championships: Lia Thomas, formerly of the @PennSwimDive men's team, won by over 7 seconds. You can hardly see the other women swimming at the far end of the pool by the time the race is over. For the women, "it was a race for second place." pic.twitter.com/3ItZnsGMtR
— Emily Kreps (@ekreps) February 18, 2022
Lia Thomas is a biological male swimming against biological females. Whether she identifies as a girl is irrelevant to the fact that she was born a male, went through puberty as a male, and swam on the mens team for 3 years. Protect women’s sports.
— Colleen Young (@_CRYoung) January 21, 2022
ESPN weighed in with a startling grasp of the obvious. Though, they stopped short of saying exactly why Thomas enjoyed such a strength advantage over the rest of the field:
.@ESPN: "You can see the …powerful stroke of Lia Thomas where there isn't a whole lot of movement in her legs. …it's a much quieter stroke even though it's more powerful than a lot of these other swimmers right now." @SaveWomensSport @AbigailShrier @KDansky @coachblade pic.twitter.com/fOr3piBep6
— Emily Kreps (@ekreps) February 17, 2022
Congratulations to Catherine Buroker, who might have come second in this race, but as she lost to trans woman Lia Thomas (born a man) Catherine is the real winner here 👏🏻🏊♀️ https://t.co/TgnPDn4mML
— Martin Daubney ✌🏻 (@MartinDaubney) February 18, 2022
UPenn swimmer “Lia” Thomas is just a horrible human being.
He knows he’s destroying the sport for women, but the mentally ill spoiled brat couldn’t care less.
Shame on the @NCAA for destroying the championship and erasing all the hard work real women put in.
— John – Cancel The Left- Cardillo (@johncardillo) February 16, 2022
The “scrutiny” you’re referring to is noticing that Lia Thomas is not a woman competing in women’s events. https://t.co/bDLEKyWgHI
— Inez Stepman ⚪️🔴⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) February 17, 2022
Lia Thomas is cheating. https://t.co/tEbXQgyZha
— Mary Harrington (@moveincircles) February 18, 2022
Genuine question. Because it only takes one Lia Thomas in each event for women's sports to be meaningless, long-standing records trashed. This is the future, so the LGBT-lobby who have pushed this through need to think of an answer #whatdowesaytothegirls
— Janice Turner (@VictoriaPeckham) February 18, 2022
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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