Athlete Lia Thomas has become the first Transgender swimmer to win the 500-yard freestyle event at the US collegiate championships in Atlanta.
Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association first place title with a time of 4 minutes 33:24.
The 22-year-old knocked her competition out the park and hit the wall more than a second-and-a-half ahead of Emma Weyant, who finished in 4:34:99.
Despite the impressive win, Thomas’ victory evoked an extremely polarising reaction from the crowd. Many were silent, some politely clapped and others booed as she received her medal on the podium.
After her victory, the athlete told ESPN reporter Elizabeth Beisel that she tried to ‘ignore’ the critics:
Crowd was completely silent after Lia Thomas spoke with Olympian Elizabeth Beisel after winning the 500 free at the @NCAA Championships. pic.twitter.com/41CM3QlQpk
— Emri Moore (@emrimooretv) March 17, 2022
One of her teammates who spoke to Fox News Digital under the condition that her identity remain confidential, said that:
‘Thomas’ eligibility in women’s events has ‘completely ruined the integrity of the sport’.
She also said that Thomas’ achievements against other women athletes were a given due to her biological advantage. The unnamed athlete also said:
“It’s its own distinct category because no woman is going to be as fast as a man, and here, is just completely – we’re just throwing away the definition of a record to fit into someone else’s agenda of what it should mean to them,”
