Friction is building on the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team as transgender member Lia Thomas continues to smash women’s records after competing for three years as a male, according to a female team member.
The Penn female swimmer spoke to the website Outkick on condition of anonymity because she feared for her ability to find employment after graduating.
At a recent meet in Akron, Ohio, Thomas broke the Ivy League 500 freestyle record and set the nation’s best time in the 200 freestyle, which also destroyed pool, meet and Penn program records.
In the 1650 freestyle final, the second-place finisher was 38 seconds behind Thomas.
“Pretty much everyone individually has spoken to our coaches about not liking this. Our coach [Mike Schnur] just really likes winning. He’s like most coaches. I think secretly everyone just knows it’s the wrong thing to do,” the female Penn swimmer said.
“When the whole team is together, we have to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, go Lia, that’s great, you’re amazing.’ It’s very fake,” she added.
NCAA policy requires a male who has “transitioned” to a female to complete one year of testosterone suppression treatment before competing on a women’s team.
Despite the treatment, Thomas is gradually getting closer to matching his best times as a male, which would break records held by Olympic heroes Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky.
Thomas’ teammate said the future appears bleak for female athletes.
“When I have kids, I kinda hope they’re all boys because if I have any girls that want to play sports in college, good luck. [Their opponents] are all going to be biological men saying that they’re women,” she told OutKick.
“Right now we have one, but what if we had three on the team? There’d be three less girls competing.”
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