Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who won a women’s NCAA event in 2022 and who has said she has ambitions to compete in the Olympics, has asked the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Switzerland to overturn the rules of World Aquatics that prevent transgender women from competing in women’s divisions.
CAS, the world’s top court in matters of sporting fairness, acknowledged the case in a release on Friday and said that Thomas had asserted that the rules were unlawful and discriminatory. “Such discrimination cannot be justified as necessary, reasonable, or proportionate to achieve a legitimate sporting objective,” Thomas argued, CAS said in a statement that paraphrased her position.
CAS said that arbitration proceedings began in September 2023 and that the case had been confidential, according to governing procedures. But Thomas and World Aquatics, the governing body for swimming and several other water sports, agreed for the court to disclose the existence of the case, the court said in its statement. On Thursday, the Telegraph reported that the case had been filed.
A hearing has not been scheduled.
Thomas’ lawyers, based in Canada, and World Aquatics did not return messages seeking comment.
World Aquatics, which sets rules that inform elite competitions, including the Olympics, introduced a new gender policy in June 2022, allowing transgender women to compete in women’s events only if they transitioned before the age of 12 or before one of the early stages of puberty. That effectively excludes transgender women who have undergone male puberty from participating in women’s races.
World Aquatics also introduced an “open” category for athletes who were not assigned female at birth, but said the division did not get any entries at the first event of the Swimming World Cup in Berlin in October.
“World Aquatics remains confident that its gender inclusion policy represents a fair approach and remains absolutely determined to protect women’s sport,” World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki told The Telegraph Friday.
Thomas attended the University of Pennsylvania. She began swimming on the men’s swim team in 2017. In May 2019, Thomas began transitioning using hormone replacement therapy. By 2021, Thomas met the NCAA hormone therapy requirements to swim on the Penn women’s team.
In March 2022, Thomas won the 500-yard freestyle event at the NCAA Division I national swimming championship, becoming the first openly transgender woman to win a college women’s swimming title. “I intend to keep swimming,” Thomas told “Good Morning America” in May 2022. “It’s been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through.”
Swimming is one of many sports to implement policies for transgender athletes amid wide debate about inclusion and competitive fairness. Last year, the governing bodies for track and field as well as cycling ruled that transgender women could not compete in women’s events. The International Cycling Union made its decision in July, after the American Austin Killips became the first openly transgender woman to win one of its cycling events.
(Photo: Mike Comer / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
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