Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas had no likelihood to win a authorized problem that might have opened the door for a possible Olympics bid — and he or she ought to as an alternative compete towards different trans swimmers … so says a former Group USA gold medalist.
Embellished swimmer Donna De Varona, who gained two golds on the 1964 Summer time Olympics, joined us on “TMZ Reside” Thursday, and we requested her about Lia’s failed bid to overturn guidelines stopping transgender girls from competing towards organic girls on the Olympics.
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Donna says Lia was by no means going to get the ban overturned as a result of she did not get a U.S. Aquatics membership card, which DDV says prevented Lia’s problem from having any standing from the get-go.
Lia — the primary transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I championship — needed to overturn a brand new gender coverage from swimming’s governing physique, which excludes trans girls who totally underwent male puberty from competing towards organic girls. Lia didn’t transition till faculty, so she was excluded below the brand new coverage.
Donna says World Aquatics is making an attempt to accommodate swimmers who do not establish with their delivery intercourse — Lia included — however provides not a single swimmer signed as much as compete in a brand new class particularly for transgender swimmers … which is attention-grabbing.
As an alternative, Donna says trans athletes like Lia solely desires to compete towards organic girls … which she straight-up says is not honest.
Donna’s been a pacesetter in girls’s athletics for many years, and he or she says she’s been monitoring the variety of podium spots throughout all sports activities the place transgender athletes are taking spots from organic girls. The quantity is astounding … Donna says there are a minimum of 1,000 cases.
Lia will not be taking over a kind of podium spots on the Olympics, although, or at another elite swimming competitors … a minimum of for now.