Well, this was predicted to happen. William "Lia" Thomas, a biological male who competes for the women's swimming team at the University of Pennsylvania has won multiple titles over the weekend and set meet records. This is in addition to the 500-Yard Freestyle at Ivy League Championships from earlier in the week, which Madeline reported on. Thomas was also cleared earlier this month to compete in the NCAA championships.
On Friday night, Thomas won the 200-yard freestyle Ivy League Championship competition at Blodgett Pool at Harvard University, as Ryan Gaydos reported for Fox News. Thomas' time was 1:43:12, setting a record for the meet and at the pool.
The women finishing behind Thomas, finished about two seconds behind.
From Gaydos' report:
The previous marks were set by Harvard’s Miki Dahlke. She set the pool record with a 1:45.00 mark in 2018 and at the meet record in 2020 with a 1:47.78 in 2020.
Harvard finished Nos. 2 and 3. Samantha Shelton finished with a 1:45.82, and Molly Hamlin had a 1:47.33.
As Gaydos subsequently covered on Saturday night, Thomas went on to win the 100-yard freestyle, which took place at Harvard as well. Thomas was competing against another transgender swimmer, Iszac Henig of Yale University, who is transitioning from female to male.
Gaydos' Saturday report, which refers to Henig as "he," noted:
Thomas finished with a 47.63 mark while Henig finished with a 47.82 mark. Thomas’ mark is also a record for Blodgett Pool at Harvard University, where the meet was taking place.
Henig, who is transitioning from female to male and uses male pronouns, had some momentum going into the race. He had set a meet record in the preliminary race earlier Saturday and even topped Thomas. He had the lead in the first back and forth before Thomas turned on the jets.
It’s the third individual win for Thomas during the week.
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Henig, however, beat Thomas in previous races last month, as Madeline reported about collegiate swim meets. According to the Daily Mail, Henig is delaying hormone treatment therapy so as to finish competing for the Yale swim team.
As Madeline has also covered previously, Thomas "was not even close" to being considered competitive when competing in men's swimming, according to an interview with an unnamed female swimmer gave to the Washington Examiner.
Many were quick to react to Thomas' wins, which has generated much conversation about the unfairness to biological women and protecting the use and legacy of Title IX.
One person was particularly oblivious and tone-deaf to how idiotic her take was, though. That would be Azeen Ghorayshi, a science writer for The New York Times. "Trans Swimmer Revives an Old Debate in Elite Sports: What Defines a Woman?," her piece from Wednesday asks.
NEW from me: Lia Thomas is just the latest elite athlete in the last century who has been subject to anatomical, chromosomal or hormonal scrutiny to compete in women’s events.
— Azeen Ghorayshi (@azeen) February 16, 2022
One thing they all have in common? They were winning.https://t.co/7FkP04NiXB
The piece was massively ratioed. Of the 908 retweets, 863 are quote tweets mocking Ghorayshi. Replies were restricted by Ghorayshi, but not before 43 came in to help her answer such an obvious question and call out her denial of biology.
This article is silly and an insult to female athletes. Be brave enough to turn on the comments. Lia isn’t being scrutinized because Lia is winning, but because Lia is male and is choosing to complete in a sports category created for the inclusion of female people in sport.
— 2171712 (@rGH0QafIJxNQ58f) February 17, 2022
Ghorayshi goes through great lengths to talk about years of history of seeking to deny science, to the tune of droning on for close to 2,000 words, when far fewer are needed. What defines a woman? Biology.
Then again, the science writer doesn't seem to contend well with science, in that she's looking for "neat answers." As she complains early on, "in the realm of elite physical performance, where extraordinary biology is the rule, science has never provided neat answers."
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