Many readers will know the horrendous story of Lia Thomas. She is the person who swam on the Penn University’s men’s team before deciding that he wanted to be a girl and swim in Penn’s women’s programme. He went through a year of chemical treatment to bring his testosterone levels down and began competing as a girl.

Penn obviously didn’t care that she had the physical advantages of 21 years of male testosterone treatment. Penn were winning dual meets, thanks to the bucket of points won by Lia Thomas. Their coach had deviously found a way for a woman to take male testosterone for 21 years and then “legally” compete as a woman.

It was a farce – that’s true. But it was more than that, it was cheating on every woman competing in world swimming. I have no objection to transgender men or women taking part in any field of endeavor – lawyer, high court judge, doctor, accountant, street cleaner, whatever. All that is good and proper. But what transgender males to females CANNOT do is compete in strength athletic events like swimming, track, boxing and weightlifting against natural born women. Women have had to fight too hard for equality in sport to have some selfish coach and arrogant swimmer come along and start cheating on their gender. It should never be allowed.

But at this years NCAA Women’s National Championships, the NCAA to their eternal shame said, “That’s fine. Lia Thomas can swim. We must be fair to those who want an alternative lifestyle.” The fact the NCAA were cheating on half the world’s population was of no concern at all. The NCAA condoned a new and devious form of testosterone treatment. Their decision ranks right alongside the East German drug programme. In fact, it is probably worse.

There are two aspects of Lia Thomas’s participation in the NCAA Championships.

1. How did she perform?
2. What was the effect on genuine female swimmers in the event?

The table below summarises Lia Thomas’s performances. She won the 500, was fifth in the 200 and eighth in the 100. That is way, way worse than I expected. As the week went on her swimming got worse and worse. I can only assume the pressure of the negative spectator reaction and determination of her legitimate female competition to stick it to the cheat got to her. Certainly, she folded in a most spectacular fashion. And my reaction to that is well done, Virginia, Alabama, Stanford and a few other legitimate women swimmers. You took a stand and proved who was boss in the water. Women’s sport is proud of your swims. As they say in Scotland, “sent him home to think again”.    

Event	Place	Time	Best Female	US Record
500 Heats	1st	4.33.82	4.36.79	4.24.06
500 Finals	1st	4.33.24	4:34.99	4.24.06
200 Heats	2nd	1.42.09	1.41.89	1.39.10
200 Finals	5th	1.43.40	1.41.12	1.39.10
100 Heats	4th	47.37	46.78	45.56
100 Finals	8th	48.18	46.05	45.56

But there was also damage done to women’s swimming. For every final Lia Thomas made, a genuine female swimmer was bumped down from the A to the B final and another swimmer was excluded from the finals altogether. The effect of this was reported in America as follows.

Just interviewed a swimmer from Virginia Tech, her teammate was crying earlier because this was her last NCAA competition and she placed 17^th in the category Lia Thomas was swimming in. I saw her crying earlier on the phone with her Mom, wasn’t aware that’s what she was upset about until now.

Her last NCAA championship, she makes the B Final but because a cheat is allowed to swim, she misses out on what was legitimately her place. The whole sad saga is a bloody disgrace. While gray haired old bastards and their 300 staff lounge about in their four story 140,000 square foot Indianapolis facility making decisions that cheat on women, equality is still a distant hope.

So, I’m glad a few tough women gave cheats like Lia Thomas and her Penn coach a kick in the bum, that said, “You do not walk in here and take what is rightfully ours”. But I am sad that so many good female swimmers were badly hurt in the process. The NCAA, Lia Thomas and her coach must never be forgiven for their 2022 terrorist attack on legitimate women’s sport.