Lia Thomas, transgender swimmer who complicates American swimming
The transsexual swimmer stands out effectively in her debut in the female category and causes enormous rejection in her opponents.
American swimmer Lia Thomas is not the first transsexual swimmer to continue with her sporting path after undergoing a sex change process, but her case is calling into question the premise on which, in a good way, these situations are controlled.
Thomas, 21, was a swimmer who competed as a child in her high school years, as well as her first three years of study at the University of Pennsylvania, before opting to undergo medical treatment to change her sex, somewhat that according to his relatives affirm, his body asked.
That treatment coincided with the 2020-2021 season, which was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and when she returned this previous fall, Lia has achieved the best marks of the season in her first university competitions at 200, 500 and 1,650 free yards, that place her as the best swimmer in the country.
In particular, his record of 1: 41.93 in the 200 yards, with which he beat the American record holder in the 100-meter butterfly and Tokyo Olympian Torry Huske in an Ivy League competition, is just over two seconds behind the world record of a legend like Missy Franklin.
Also, with her 500-yard mark (4: 35.06) she would have been second in the 2021 NCAA final.
They are shorter times than those I achieve when competing as a man, yet they are powerfully distinguished as a lady. Currently, there is an 11.5% difference between male swimmers and female swimmers.
Standards are put to the test
The rules governing sex change in sport are being tested. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) establishes general norms that try to avoid that "the competitors are put under unnecessary treatments or medicines". Each league applies these regulations with its own interpretation.
The American alliance, USA Swimming, does not oblige competitors who wish to change their gender from male to female to undergo surgical treatment.
The NCAA, for its part, requires the treatment that has recently been considered the most appropriate, consisting of homornal suppression of testosterone. Thomas has far exceeded that period, during which approximately 3% of the male hormone declines.
However, Lia's sports results raise doubts about whether this treatment is enough to achieve real capacities, practically identical to those of a woman.
Most of the specialists who have spoken on the matter maintain that Thomas continues to benefit from the strong progress he made during puberty and as an adult, supported by the testosterone that his body produced naturally.
Important pronouncements
Faced with these tests, they have resulted in reactions. A meeting of tutors of competitors from a university similar to that of the swimmer has approached the NCCA asking that she not be allowed to compete in the female classification.
A former American swimming authority spoke out, and Tokyo Olympic medalist Erika Brown has taken a stand against allowing transgender swimmers to compete against biological women.
Other legitimate voices, such as 1984 Los Angeles 100 Free Olympic Champion and Social Freedom Advocate Nancy Hogshead, state that "all transgender girls and women should be welcomed into sport, but in separate events or with separate results in those modalities in which their performance advantage linked to the male gender is not sufficiently mitigated ".
With the NCAA finals approaching in March, there is a genuine possibility that Lia Thomas could compete, beat different opponents in the finals and surprisingly become a champion in the trials, a possibility that many consider unreasonable and demotivating for other swimmers.
Looking ahead, it would be likely to see Thomas compete globally representing the United States. Her organization, USA Swimming, has a panel dedicated to studying and thoroughly analyzing each transgender case.
If vetoed, anyone who is part of USA Swimming can appeal to a national team of teams.
Other avenues would be the International Federation, the requirements established by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the IOC, which, as demonstrated in the case of the New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, a member in Tokyo 2020, applies a permissive policy.