Swimming fans are still reeling from the effect Lia Thomas had on women’s sports. Thomas, 22, won an NCAA title in women’s 500 yard swim.
While Thomas has followed all NCAA rules, many believe the rules are not adequate, giving transgender athletes an unfair advantage.
“I tried to focus on my swimming and block out everything else. It means the world to be here and be able to compete,” Thomas said in the post-race interview on deck.
Many were crushed for the 2nd place finisher considering she had won a silver Olympic medal in Tokyo – Virginia freshman Emma Weyant.
The PED expert went on to deconstruct the requirements the NCAA implemented compared to what Thomas admitted she takes in interviews:
“She satisfied all the regulations compete required to compete in the women’s category, she’s taking testosterone suppressants and estrogen supplements, so reduce her testosterone levels to average female levels and has done so for at least one year per the regulations. ”
But the guidelines seems way off base – because they allow for athletes that are transitioning to have 4 to 5 times more testosterone than a typical female has:
“So yet the regulations are 10 nanomoles per liter, which is about 288 nanograms per deciliter for one year. So that means for 12 months, you have to have the levels equivalent to that of a male or lower than a male. I know… that sounds… Did you miss hear me and No you didn’t, you need to have lower levels than 288. The reference range for a male is about 250 to 1000 depending on what lab you’re using, but a normal biological female will produce roughly 40 to 50 nanograms per deciliter of total test ”
In the fall out from the debacle Collegiate swimming coaches took the unusual step of expanding the 2021-22 All-America awards on behalf of female athletes who missed cuts to Lia Thomas at the NCAA Division I women’s swimming championships.
The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) announced this week that 79 women received first-team individual honors, including the University of Pennsylvania’s male-born Thomas.
Usually the first team awards go to top 8 swimmers in each event while those finishing in spots 9 through 16 receive second team recognition. This year 9th place finishers made first team and 17th place finishers earned second team status in races featuring Thomas.
CSCAA executive director Greg Earhart said that expanding the All-America awards was “the right thing to do.”
“Following the NCAA’s decision to not expand the field, the CSCAA determined that these specific individuals should still be recognized as All-Americans for their athletic achievements at the pinnacle event for college swimming & diving,” he told SwimSwam.
“While the CSCAA isn’t in a position to award teams points, we felt [it] was simply the right thing to do,” Earhart said. “We continue to believe in the inclusive benefits of sport but think the NCAA missed an opportunity to lead the conversation towards a solution that includes a competitive playing field.”
Rogan went on to make another excellent point – the Lia Thomas scenario might actually be hurting the transgender cause due to the fact that this is blatantly seen as cheating.
“He’s another point. Maybe that’s causing more harm to the transgender cause than it is good. Because you’re forcing this into into society in a way that’s gonna make people resentful. There’s some people that should be treated with dignity and respect that transition, they’re now going to be considered in the same way that this person is considered where they think of her as a cheater, they think of her as like cheating against these other biological females. ”
And Rogan is absolutely right on this, several months ago we covered a report from Intercept journalist Ryan Grim who put a spotlight on the research [that the] Trans lobby had conducted, [which found] that Thomas’ competing against women cannot be framed in a way so that the general public would support it.
In fact the research results are so damning they didn’t even publish the numbers for this finding. Instead the trans lobby suggested Thomas try and link herself to racial injustice – hence the pushed comparison to Jackie Robinson she tried some months back and other, more recent attempts by mainstream media.Â