Female swimmers at the University of Pennsylvania published a statement this week about their teammate, William “Lia” Thomas, who is a biological male competing on the women’s swim team. In the statement, which was shared with ESPN, the swimmers voiced their support for Thomas’ transition and said they “value her as a person, teammate, and friend.”
As I covered, Thomas made headlines in recent months for breaking two national women’s records at swim a competition. At a separate competition in Ohio, in the 1,650-yard freestyle, the runner-up finished 38 seconds behind Thomas. At a competition last month, Thomas was “crushed” in two races by a biological female transitioning to male at Yale University.
This week, which I reported, USA Swimming announced a new “inclusion” policy surrounding biological males who identify as females and want to compete on a women’s swim team at the elite level. The updated policy requires that the swimmer must show a concentration of testosterone in their blood that is less than 5 nanomoles per liter continuously for at least 36 months. The policy affects swimmers in the 13-14 age group and older and those who wish to break American swimming records.
"'We want to express our full support for Lia in her transition,’ the athletes said. ‘We value her as a person, teammate, and friend. The sentiments put forward by an anonymous member of our team are not representative of the feelings, values, and opinions of the entire Penn team, composed of 39 women with diverse backgrounds.'
The statement was not signed, but a Penn spokesperson said it represented ‘several’ members of the team.
Since Thomas' record-setting performance at the Zippy Invitational in December, multiple outlets have published anonymous critical comments attributed to members of the Penn swimming and diving community, including swimmers and parents. Outside of Tuesday's statement, no members of the swimming team or the coaching staff have made official comments to the media.
Said the athletes in the statement, ‘We recognize this is a matter of great controversy and are doing our best to navigate it while still focusing on doing our best in the pool and classroom.’"
Last month, as I covered, one of Thomas’ female teammates, who spoke to The Washington Examiner on the condition of anonymity, told the outlet that “Lia was not even close to being competitive as a man in the 50 and the 100 (freestyle events),” but “because Lia is biologically a man, [Lia] is just naturally better than many females in the 50 and the 100 or anything that [Lia] wasn’t good at as a man.” The remarks were published by the Examiner shortly after Thomas competed against biological females and won against Harvard University.
In a separate interview with the Examiner, a female UPenn swimmer spoke on the condition of anonymity where she claimed Thomas “compares herself to Jackie Robinson” and “mocks” competing on the women’s team, which I reported.
“It’s been super draining and frustrating,” the swimmer said in the interview. “No one seems to care about the actual women.”