The Telegraph reports that transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has begun a low-key legal campaign to overturn the ban preventing men from competing in elite women’s races, including the Olympics.
Thomas, who became the first man to win a women’s NCAA Division I title in 2022, has asked the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to overturn a ban put in place by World Aquatics, which prevents men from competing in elite women’s competitions, the Telegraph reports.
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas walks after receiving her medal for winning the 200-yard freestyle during the 2022 Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Blodgett Pool on February 18, 2022, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
World Aquatics, major competitive swimming’s world governing body, was compelled to reevaluate its position on transgender swimmers after Thomas’ meteoric rise to the top of women’s collegiate swimming. The issues confronting the organization went far beyond the swimming pool. Reports that Thomas had been allowed to use the female locker rooms despite being a man raised additional concerns about the welfare and safety of female swimmers.
According to the Telegraph:
Thomas has hired top Canadian law firm Tyr, the website of which describes its practitioners as “fearless advocates” who have been involved in “high-stakes and precedent-setting cases”.
Those brought before CAS – even ones with a clear public-interest element – are controversially not publicised and are heard behind closed doors unless the parties involved consent otherwise.
Telegraph Sport has learnt Thomas first went to the court in September, since when World Aquatics has applied to have the case thrown out on the basis she is not currently impacted by its rules because she has not submitted herself to the jurisdiction of USA Swimming, its recognised member association.
Thomas’ ascent to the top of the swimming world sparked fierce backlash from fellow competitors who have led an effort to reform women’s sports and ensure that only women and girls are allowed to participate in them.
Chief among them is Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer who competed against Thomas at the NCAA championships. In an interview with Fox News, Gaines described the shock she and other female swimmers experienced when they realized they would share a locker room with a man.
“We did not give our consent; they did not ask for our consent,” Gaines said. “In that locker room, we turned around, and there’s a 6ft 4in biological man dropping his pants and watching us undress, and we were exposed to male genitalia.
“Not even probably a year, two years ago, this would have been considered some form of sexual assault, voyeurism. But now, not even are they just allowing it to happen, it’s almost as if these large organisations are encouraging it to happen.
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas smiles on the podium after winning the 200-yard freestyle during the 2022 Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Blodgett Pool on February 18, 2022, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
Gaines tied Thomas for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle event.
World Aquatics declined a request for comment on Thomas’ legal efforts. The organization did, however, release a statement reasserting the policy they put in place in 2022.
“The World Aquatics policy on gender inclusion, adopted by World Aquatics in June of 2022, was rigorously developed on the basis of advice from leading medical and legal experts, and in careful consultation with athletes,” World Aquatics Executive Director Brent Nowicki said in a statement. “World Aquatics remains confident that its gender inclusion policy represents a fair approach and remains absolutely determined to protect women’s sport.”
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