After confirming that the Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas will not be able to participate in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Due to the TAS decision, a former teammate of the athlete made a harsh comment on her social networks and also revealed her experience in the locker room. Is about Paula Scanlanwho does not accept the presence of trans athletes in the various disciplines.
Scanlan agreed with sports officials in pointing out Wednesday’s decision to deny Thomas, 25, permission to compete in women’s events at the Olympics, but raised a quibble in his account of x: “Okay, but is someone going to apologize for making us undress with him 18 times a week??”
Thomas had previously competed on the men’s swim team before switching to the women’s team in the fall of 2021. This situation sparked a unique memory for Scanlan, who said that sharing the locker room with Thomas was traumatic for her as a sexual assault survivor.
“In general, the bathrooms were a place where I felt very uncomfortable,” he said in 2023 in testimonies recorded by New York Post. “I would just relive the situation I went through when I was 16.”
Scanlan described Thomas’ presence as “incredibly uncomfortable,” and not just for her. Her fellow swimmers resorted to changing in the family bathrooms for the sake of her privacy, she said.
“I was at my locker and all of a sudden I heard a male voice and I just jumped,” Scanlan recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, someone came in here. He is incredibly vulnerable,” he added. “For weeks I had nightmares about men standing there while we were getting dressed.”, he highlighted.
Thomas, who transitioned gender through hormone therapy after competing for three years on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swim team, dominated the field of biological women to become the first openly trans person to win a title. Division I in 2022 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)the governing body of university sports.
Thomas’ rise sparked a passionate national debate in the United States over whether it was fair for biologically male athletes who changed gender to compete in women’s sports leagues. He then made demands against World Aquatics (WA), the world governing body for aquatics, including swimming, to reverse its 2022 policy that prevents athletes who passed “any part of male puberty” from competing. in the women’s category, according to The Guardian.
The matter was judged by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the international body based in Switzerland to resolve conflicts that arise in the world of high-level athletics. The entity explained its decision in a 24-page document, stating that “Thomas simply had no right to commit to eligibility to compete in WA competitions.”
In a statement, World Aquatics touted the ruling as “a major step forward in our efforts to protect women’s sport.” The governing entity stated that it is “dedicated to fostering an environment that promotes justice, respect and equal opportunities for athletes of all genders and we reaffirm this commitment.”
As expected, this did not satisfy Thoas, who argued that the CAS decision is a call to action for trans women to “fight for our dignity and human rights.”
