Several women on the University of Pennsylvania swim team considered boycotting their final home meet in protest transgender teammate Lia Thomas’ physical advantages and dominance.
The women ultimately decided not to go through with the boycott, the Daily Mail reported, fearing they would be banned from the Ivy League championship. The women also discussed participating in a false start.
“They’ve been ignored by both Penn and the NCAA, and there is a feeling among some of the girls that they should make some sort of statement, seize the opportunity while they have a spotlight on them to make their feelings about the issue known,” a source close to the team told the Mail.
The source also told the Mail that the female teammates are looking to show their opposition to the NCAA rules that allowed Thomas to compete on the men’s team for three years and then compete on the women’s team after a year of hormone therapy.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Thomas’ times while swimming for the men’s team “would break seven-time gold medal Olympic champion Katie Ledecky’s college times.”
Cynthia Millen, a USA Swimming official who quit to protest Thomas’ acceptance as a female swimmer, told the Washington Times that if she had to officiate a swim meet where Thomas competed, she would have to rule the senior ineligible to compete as a woman.
“If Lia came on my deck as a referee, I would pull the coach aside and say, ‘Lia can swim, but Lia can swim exhibition or a time trial. Lia cannot compete against those women because that’s not fair,’” Millen told the outlet.
Millen also called on other volunteer officials to protest any meets that include transgender women competing against women.
“This is not right because by doing this, we’re supporting this,” Millen told the Times. “There are no swim meets if there are no officials.”
Multiple Penn students have spoken out anonymously about the inherent unfairness in allowing Thomas to compete against women. Students told The Daily Wire of their frustrations surrounding Thomas’ spot on the women’s team.
“Their idea of ‘acceptance’ is to not give you a platform — by shaming or forcing you out if you have views that are too far from their own,” one student said. “For a university where we are all supposed to bring ideas and differing viewpoints to grow, the pressure to be silent rings loud and has catastrophic implications.”
“You don’t need a life science degree to know that testosterone gives a massive advantage for physical strength. Not to mention increased red blood cell counts that provide greater oxygenation during long distance exercises, lower natural body fat percentages, and so on,” another student said. “Biological men are physically advantaged over women by nature.”
Neither the NCAA nor USA Swimming have commented publicly on the Thomas situation.
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Source: Dailywire
