Transgender Swimmer Lia Thomas Had No Chance at Olympics, Donna De Varona Says
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas had no chance to win a legal challenge that would have opened the door for a potential Olympics bid -- and she should instead compete against other trans swimmers ... so says a former Team USA gold medalist.
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00:00The way I read Leah's statement, she seems to be, and she didn't really kind of close
00:09the loop on it, but she seems to be saying you shouldn't have a blanket ban that I'm
00:14assuming she means you could look at this case by case.
00:17What do you think of that?
00:19Well, the court of arbitration made the decision that her case did not have standing.
00:27It did not have standing because in order to bring a suit, you have to bring a suit
00:32from the country and the organization of which you may or may not have, or you should have,
00:39applied.
00:40Apparently, Thomas did not pay for her world, her US aquatics card.
00:46It's like, it's like saying I belong in a community and there's a private club.
00:51I don't belong to it, but I don't like the rules, so I am going to go to court, say the
00:55rules are unfair.
00:56US swimming and world aquatics have been over backwards to try to accommodate individuals
01:02who do not identify with their birth sex in the, in the women's category.
01:07What isn't stated here is that world aquatics had a world championship last year and they
01:11had a separate category for those who do not identify with their birth sex and nobody applied
01:19because males that identify as females and call themselves trans women want to say, I'm
01:25a woman.
01:26I'm a woman for all instances.
01:28I belong in the women's category.
01:30How many athletes are we talking about that would, that this would actually affect?
01:34We've been keeping track because the common thing is they're not that many.
01:38You're discriminating.
01:39It's not fair.
01:40We've been doing studies.
01:41There's over a thousand podium spots in many sports, different sports that have been taken
01:46by those that don't identify with their birth sex and enter the women's category.
01:52A thousand spots just this last year.
01:57That's way more than I thought, honestly.
01:59And I'm, you know, I think we have to be, have compassion for many in the trans community
02:03that don't like this narrative because they just want to live their lives and be respected.
02:09And they realize that biology makes a difference when it comes to sports.
02:13And you know, I want, I, my interest is in protecting 52 years of hard work where now
02:18we're on the field of play, we're 50-50 at the Olympics.