Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has won the 500 meter freestyle race in the NCAA Division I swimming championship in Atlanta. Despite the left’s best attempts to normalize men competing in women’s sports, not everyone was happy about Thomas’ victory.
CNN reports:
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title after finishing first in the women’s 500-yard freestyle event Thursday evening.
Thomas pulled away in the final 150 yards to win in 4:33.24…
“I try to ignore (negative comments) as much as I can. I try to focus on my swimming and what I need to do to get ready for my races and block out everything else,” Thomas told ESPN after the race.
SportsCenter shared footage of the end of the race to Twitter (below). Thomas beat the 2nd place finisher by 1.75 seconds which is closer than the preliminaries, which Thomas won by 5 full seconds.
Penn’s Lia Thomas won the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships.
Thomas becomes the first known transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I championship in any sport.
Full story from @katie_barnes3: https://t.co/mYzU5uBDpS pic.twitter.com/zgmIEgKO5x
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 17, 2022
There was reportedly some awkward silence before Thomas got in the pool, and also after she stepped onto the podium.
ESPN reports:
The race began with the crowd cheering for each of the swimmers, but fans were noticeably quiet for Thomas’ introduction. Save Women’s Sports founder Beth Stelzer draped a vinyl banner with the organization’s phrase over the railing…
As she stood on the podium with her trophy, she flashed a peace sign, just as she did for her four Ivy League championships. And once again, the crowd was noticeably quiet as she was announced as the champion.
Even the way the other medalists stood on the podium showed a certain animosity towards Lia Thomas (picture below).
Congratulations to 🥇Emma Weyant, 🥈Erica Sullivan, and 🥉Brooke Forde for their victories.
As for Lia Thomas — #NoThankYou#PennCheats #SaveWomensSports #SexNotGenderhttps://t.co/wHIiDwzraW pic.twitter.com/9VCj2jGDID
— Women's Voices (@WomenReadWomen) March 18, 2022
Outside of the event, there was a small protest by a group called Save Women’s Sports. A few counter-protesters also showed up with signs.
Georgia Tech- One pro-trans protester has come to counter the “Save Women’s Sports” protest trying to label them as “hateful” pic.twitter.com/SAcrVx2T2X
— Sav (@RapidFire_Pod) March 17, 2022
The leader of Save Women’s Sports spoke to a swimmer from Virginia Tech who said that her teammate was knocked out of the 500 meter freestyle race because of Thomas.
Virginia Tech swimmer competing in this year’s NCAA championship details how her teammate was brought to tears after her place in the finals was taken by Lia Thomas: pic.twitter.com/mow56mVp1W
— Sav (@RapidFire_Pod) March 17, 2022
Thomas will be competing in the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle in the coming days. She is expected to win both races.
