Published on : 01/06/2022 – 02:08Modified : 01/06/2022 – 02:06
Washington (AFP) – Lia Thomas, who became the first transgender swimmer to win a college title in the United States, said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that she wants to try to qualify for the Olympics.
“I’ve had my sights set on making the Olympic qualifier for a very long time, and I would love to see it through,” she told ABC’s Good Morning America.
Her victory in mid-March in the 500-yard final had created controversy, her detractors believing that having competed as a man in the past, Lia Thomas enjoys an unfair physiological advantage.
But, she noted in the interview that aired Tuesday, “trans people don’t transition into sports.”
“We transition to be happy and authentic and (become) who we really are. Transitioning to gain an advantage is never something we factor into our decisions.”
“Trans women do not threaten women’s sports,” she insisted.
The Olympic trials for the US swimming team for the Paris Games are due to take place a few weeks before, in June 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
After the first participation in the Tokyo Olympics of a transgender athlete, in weightlifting, this question is a headache for sports institutions. In November, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) passed the ball back to each sport, pointing to the lack of “scientific consensus on the role of testosterone in performance across all sports”.
The controversy is also political in the United States. Several conservative states have recently adopted laws to block the path of young transgender girls to women’s sports in school.
© 2022 AFP