Former swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania Lía Tomás, who became the first known transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title, is reportedly challenging World Aquatics in court in hopes of overturning its policy that essentially bans transgender athletes from participating in women's sports.
Thomas, who has not swum competitively since winning the women's 500-yard freestyle event in 2022, has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Switzerland to overturn the sport's governing body's latest policy, which essentially banned biological males from competing in elite women's events if they had gone through “any part of male puberty,” The Telegraph reported on Friday.
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas participates in the 200 freestyle final during the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the McAuley Aquatics Center in Atlanta on March 18, 2022. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
According The report, Thomas hired Canadian law firm Tyr and first approached CAS in September. The report also noted that World Aquatics asked the court to dismiss the case as the current policy does not apply to Thomas, who has not competed since 2022.
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Carlos Sayao, Thomas' lawyer, told the outlet that the current ban is “discriminatory.”
“Lia now has the door closed in terms of her future ability to play her sport and compete at the highest level,” he said.
“She is putting forward her case and that of other trans women to ensure that any rules for trans women's participation in sport are fair, proportionate and based on human rights and science.”
Lia Thomas awaits a preliminary heat at the NCAA women's 500-meter freestyle swimming championships at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta on March 17, 2022. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
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Thomas previously expressed interest in competing in the Olympics during an interview with “Good Morning America” in 2022.
“It's been my goal to swim in the Olympic trials for a long time and I would love to achieve it,” she said.
But the following month of that year, World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA, updated its policy for transgender athletes, essentially banning any biological male athletes from competing in women's events unless they transitioned before age 12 or before undergoing to “any part of male exercise.” puberty.”
Lia Thomas looks on from the podium after finishing fifth in the 200-yard freestyle during the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at the McAuley Aquatics Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta on March 18, 2022 . (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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The policy change was prompted by the International Olympic Committee's November 2021 guidelines and recommendation that all international federations develop their own specific sports eligibility criteria for the women's competition category.
Last summer, World Aquatics announced that it would also establishing an “open category”.
World Aquatics did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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