Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has reportedly asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn a ban on biological males competing against women in a bid to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Thomas has been banned from competing against biological women in international events since 2022, after the sport’s governing body changed its regulations.
World Aquatics changed its policies so that transgender women can only compete in women’s races if they have completed their transition by the age of 12.
The rules also required swimmers to prove to the federation that they have continuously suppressed their testosterone levels since that time.
To accommodate the transgender athletes World Aquatics set up ‘open category’ for transgender athletes to compete against one another at events.
Lia Thomas has reportedly challenge World Aquatics rules barring biological males competing against women
The transgender swimmer is reportedly seeking to overturn the ban to compete at Paris 2024
According to The Times, Thomas began a case at the Court of Arbitration last September in a bid to overturn the ban.
World Aquatics reportedly applied to have the case at the Swiss based tribunal thrown out as Thomas had not submitted to the rules and jurisdiction of USA Swimming.
The governing body has said only members of national federations are subject to and can challege the rules.
World Aquatics also insisted its policies represent a ‘fair approach’ to protecting women’s sport.
‘The World Aquatics policy on gender inclusion, adopted by World Aquatics in June of 2022, was rigorously developed on the basis of advice from leading medical and legal experts, and in careful consultation with athletes,’ World Aquatics director Brent Nowicki told The Times.
‘World Aquatics remains confident that its gender inclusion policy represents a fair approach and remains absolutely determined to protect women’s sport.’
Thomas would have to have the case heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and have the tribunal overturn to the ban before the deadline to enter the US trials on June 4.
The 24-year-old, who has not competed since 2022, had previously expressed an ambitition to compete at the Olympics.
The debate of transgender athletes participation in elite sport had intensified when Thomas became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history in 2022
The debate over transgender athletes participation in elite sport intensified when Thomas became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history.
Thomas, representing the University of Pennsylvania, won the women’s 500-yard freestyle title in 2022, months before World Aquatics ban.
Three United States female Olympic silver medallists were beaten by Thomas in the final.
Thomas swam for the Pennsylvanian men’s team for three seasons before starting hormone replacement therapy in spring 2019.
Thomas insisted insisted that she did not transition to perform better in the league tables, explaining: ‘Trans people don’t transition for athletics. We transition to be happy and authentic and to be ourselves.
‘Transition to get an advantage is not something that factors into our decisions,’ she said.
‘I don’t need anybody’s permission to be myself,’ she said.
She also said anyone who says she isn’t allowed to compete as a woman is transphobic, regardless of whether or not they support her right to transition.
‘You can’t go halfway and be like “I support trans people but only to a certain point.”
‘If you support transwomen and they’ve met all the NCAA requirements, I don’t know if you can say something like that.’
‘Trans women are not a threat to women’s sport.’
