Lia Thomas Challenges World Aquatic’s Anti-Trans Policies

Trans swimmer Lia Thomas is officially challenging World Aquatic policies that limit the eligibility of trans and intersex swimmers for the Olympics. 

Lia Thomas, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, is a former NCAA swimming champion and the first trans woman athlete to win the NCAA Division National Championship in April 2022. Despite her plans to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, she was banned due to restrictions by World Aquatics.

In 2022, World Aquatics (then known as FINA) introduced policies that banned most trans women and intersex people from competing in international women’s swimming competitions. These policies limit those who can compete in these competitions to those who have “not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later.” If people transition later in life, they are forced to compete in a new, “open” category, which has been described as detrimental, and othering to trans athletes. 

Thomas originally filed a dispute with the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland last September, and is being represented by Carlos Sayao, a partner at the Canadian law firm Tyr. Sayao describes these policies as “discriminatory” in a statement to The Telegraph, and argues that these policies will harm trans women because “trans women are particularly vulnerable in society, and they suffer from higher rates of violence, abuse, and harassment than cis women.”

The dispute was not publicized before now because CAS arbitration is confidential by default. It is unclear how the CAS will rule, as they have supported restrictions against transgender athletes in the past, but if Thomas’s case is denied in the CAS, she can still turn to the appeals process. Other trans athletes (Castor Semenya) have appealed to both the Supreme Court of Switzerland, and the European Court of Human Rights in the case of losing their disputes.