A transgender American swimmer's controversial career hung in the balance Wednesday after USA Swimming announced new rules, including testosterone limits, that could impact her ability to race competitively.
Lia Thomas has dominated US collegiate women's swimming as a student-athlete at the University of Pennsylvania, where, just a few years ago, she competed on the men's team.
USA Swimming said it had created a new set of guidelines for transgender athlete participation in elite competition that "Relies on science and medical evidence-based methods to provide a level-playing field for elite cisgender women, and to mitigate the advantages associated with male puberty and physiology." It said that a three-member panel comprised of medical experts and a veteran athlete was being established to implement the new policy and to rule on specific cases.
A key criterion that the panel will look for is that "From a medical perspective, the prior physical development of the athlete as a male, as mitigated by any medical intervention, does not give the athlete a competitive advantage over the athlete's cisgender female competitors."
In addition, a swimmer is ineligible "Unless the athlete demonstrates that the concentration of testosterone in the athlete's serum has been less than five nmol/L continuously for at least 36 months before the date of application." Doctors measure testosterone in nanomoles per litre.
Athlete Ally, an activist organization that combats homophobia and transphobia in sport, swiftly responded that the new USA Swimming policy appears to be targeting Thomas.
"Full support" The NCAA, which governs US college sports, said in January it would enforce rules set forth by USA Swimming, which has the authority to bar swimmers from competitions.
"We continue to work with the NCAA regarding Lia Thomas' participation in the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship," Thomas said she began her transition in May 2019 with hormone replacement therapy - a combination of estrogen and testosterone suppressants.
