By Cullen McCue March 3, 2022 at 6:08pm
Lia Thomas, a male-to-female transgender swimmer for the University of Pennsylvania, has been smashing women’s collegiate swimming records left and right this season. Thomas does not intend to stop there, however. During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Thomas told the outlet that her goal is to qualify for the U.S. Olympic squad in 2024.
“The very simple answer is that I’m not a man,” Thomas told SI’s Robert Sanchez about swimming on the Penn women’s team. “I’m a woman, so I belong on the women’s team. Trans people deserve that same respect every other athlete gets.”
Thomas previously competed against men for three seasons but set school records after swimming against biological women one year. Thomas set pool, school and Ivy League records and is now the nation’s top “female” swimmer. In many races, Thomas has lapped the competition. The Penn swimmer often has to wait for competitors to finish in a sport where races are often decided by less than a second.
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https://nationalfile.com/penns-transgender-swimmer-aims-qualify-2024-paris-olympics/
