Free Republic

The Trump administration said Monday that the University of Pennsylvania violated laws guaranteeing women equal opportunities in athletics by letting a transgender swimmer compete on the school's women's team and into team facilities. The administration's statement does not name Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who last competed for the Ivy League school in Philadelphia in 2022 and was the first openly transgender athlete to win a Division I title that year -- an award Thomas now faces losing. But the investigation opened in February by the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights focused on Thomas, who became a leading...

Plus where this age-old myth might actually come from.There are a few commonalities across childhood swimming experiences in the United States that I’d venture to guess you might be familiar with. Did you ever play Marco Polo? Perhaps you rode around on foam pool noodles with your friends? Did you drink Capri Suns and snack on Cheetos Puffs around the perimeter of the water as I did? Even if none of the above rings true for you, I’m almost certain you’ve heard of the widely accepted pool wisdom that many parents share with their kids: Don’t swim for at least...

Three former members of the University of Pennsylvania swimming team have taken action to expunge the women's swimming records set by transgender former collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas. Grace Estabrook, Ellen Holmquist and Margot Kaczorowski, sued the university, Harvard University, the NCAA and the Ivy League Council of Presidents over their 'traumatizing' experience sharing a team with Thomas. They accuse the institutions of violating federal law by allowing Thomas to swim against women and share their locker room facilities during the 2021-22 season. Thomas is not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday - one day before...

I was catching up with my uncle recently, and he dropped a story that had me questioning everything. It was so wild, I thought he was pulling my leg. When he kept insisting it was true, I even wondered if Uncle Toby had a touch of dementia. But nope, Uncle Toby’s sharp as ever, and his story was 100 percent real. So, what had me so floored? We were talking about schools and sports, and Uncle Toby casually mentioned that when he was in high school back in the 1950s, all the boys had to swim nude. Uh, excuse me,...

The couple was vacationing at Hutchinson Island, Florida, with their 6 children.. A Chester County, Pennsylvania couple has died after they were caught in a rip current while vacationing with their six children off Hutchinson Island, which is near Port St. Lucie, Florida. The victims have been identified as 51-year-old Brian Warter and his 48-year-old girlfriend, Erica Wishard, both of Downingtown. The family was swimming around 1:30 p.m. behind the Marriott Hotel when the couple and two of their children were swept out by a rip current. Police said the kids were able to break the current and tried to...

Paula Scanlan has welcomed the news that her former team-mate Lia Thomas will not be allowed compete at the Olympic Games and claims she should receive an apology for being 'forced to undress' with the transgender athlete '18 times a week'. It was announced on Wednesday afternoon that the 25-year-old swimmer would not be permitted compete in the Olympic Games after losing her legal battle to have the rules barring her potential involvement overturned. Scanlan took to social media shortly after verdict was revealed to demand an apology, writing the following on Twitter (X): 'Okay, but is anyone going to...

No Olympics competition for you, Lia Thomas. This is how it should be. The sense of entitlement has been strong with Thomas since he began competing with women swimmers in college. In early interviews, he said he expected to be allowed to compete with the young women. And, his goal was to compete in the Olympics as a woman athlete. He is 25 now and filed a lawsuit to overturn a ban on biological males competing against women so that he could compete at the Paris Olympics. He rose to fame as the first transgender athlete to win a NCAA...

The temporary pools came from northern Italy. The two million gallons of water came from a fire hydrant on South Capitol Ave., via 6,000 feet of piping that snakes through an NFL stadium. The swimmers will come from all over the United States, and step onstage near what’s usually the 45-yard line. And from June 15-23 in Indianapolis, they’ll take part in a grand, unprecedented experiment — all while trying to qualify for the Olympics. It’s “crazy,” Bobby Finke, a 2021 gold medalist, said of the plan for this year’s U.S. Olympic swimming trials — crazy in a good way....

North Carolina State Senior Owen Lloyd posted the fastest time in the men's 1650 yard Freestyle, earning him the ACC Title, an automatic entry to the National Championships, and a new best time. Moments later, an announcement was made that Lloyd had been disqualified for "interference with another swimmer." The rule(s) at play from the NCAA rulebook: - Rule 2, Section 5, Article 1a: "Any competitor who interferes with another swimmer during a race shall be disqualified from that race, subject to the discretion of the referee..." - Rule 2, Section 5, Article 1b: "A swimmer who changes lanes during...

Trans-identified swimmer Lia Thomas, formerly known as Will, has filed a complaint against World Aquatics over the international swimming organization’s policies prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports.In a lawsuit filed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, Thomas is taking issue with the swimming organization’s 2022 decision to prohibit men from competing in competitions designated for women only.In a statement to The Guardian, World Aquatics Executive Director Brent Nowicki said the policy “was rigorously developed on the basis of advice from leading medical and legal experts, and in careful consultation with athletes.”“World Aquatics remains confident that its...

The Swimming World Cup has decided to scrap its plans to host an open-category event for transgender swimmers after no one signed up for it. The event was to serve as a compromise after World Aquatice voted to ban male swimmers from competing in elite female events in 2022. The plan was to offer trans competitors the ability to compete against other trans swimmers in the 50m and 100m events across all strokes. However, with the Swimming World Cup only three days away, it appears there are no takers.

A former All-American swimmer brought her crusade to keep transgender women out of women’s sports to Nebraska Sunday, speaking to more than 1,000 people at an event marked by Christian faith and patriotic fervor. Riley Gaines, who swam for the University of Kentucky, tied the issue of transgender women in women's sports to an array of other issues in America. She also said transgender women try to join sororities and seek to be housed in women's prisons, with the goal of having access to women. She decried "the changing of the language that we use, the silencing, the denying of...

World Aquatics has announced a major decision involving the participation of transgender athletes at this year's World Cup in Berlin in October. For the first time ever, "open category" races will be held to accommodate transgender swimmers, World Aquatics revealed on Wednesday. The open category will feature 50m and 100m events across all strokes, with the possibility of additional competitions. "This pioneering pilot project highlights the organization’s unwavering commitment to inclusivity, welcoming swimmers of all sex and gender identities," World Aquatics said in a statement.

Parents have raised concerns over a transgender pool official using the women's changing room at the same time as young girls during a teenage swimming competition. Anne Coombes, who last week blasted a hotel spa for not giving her a key to a female changing room, was volunteering at the British Summer Championships which was held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield. Parents complained that both they and their daughters felt 'uncomfortable' as Ms Coombes, a 65-year-old trans woman, used the female changing rooms as a walkthrough during the competition which finished yesterday. The outcry from parents...

Last summer, World Aquatics, the group that oversees most international swimming competitions, angered the trans community when they changed their rules to bar most male athletes from competing against women unless they had “transitioned” prior to the age of 12. It was one of the most sensible moves we’ve seen throughout this entire debate, but they were hit with the usual charges of transphobia, hate speech, and all the rest. It appears that they were not entirely insensitive to the complaints and they have been working since then to formulate a new compromise. This week, the group’s president announced that...

FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) — Snicker if you wish. Guffaw for good measure. Bill May and other male synchronized swimmers — now called artistic swimmers — have heard the putdowns before.But they’re getting the last laugh.

Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer, has made been making headlines for using her voice to push back on men competing in women’s sports. On Thursday evening, that led to a group of militant transgender activists violently assaulting her and holding her hostage. Gaines, a 12-time All-American, entered the spotlight over the last year after being one of the few in her sport with the courage to publicly object to Lia Thomas’ domination of women’s swimming. Thomas is a biological man. While he was at the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas’ teammates suffered oppression and humiliation, being made to share a...

ESPN has been condemned by a former champion college swimmer for including transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in their segment devoted to Women's History Month - describing the company as 'spineless'. Riley Gaines swam for the University of Kentucky, ending her college career in 2022 as 'one of the most decorated swimmers in program history,' according to the UK website. She became a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer and a five-time SEC champion. Gaines competed against transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas in the NCAA championships in March 2022, and said the experience of racing Thomas - who raced in the...

Riley Gaines, the Kentucky swimmer who tied with transgender athlete Lia Thomas in the women’s 200-meter freestyle event at the NCAA championships, penned an op-ed for Fox News calling for the country to properly recognize that female sports need protection. Gaines wrote her op-ed in honor of the 37th National Girls and Women in Sports day that will be celebrated on February 1, arguing that the very concept of women’s sports teams faces annihilation from men who wish to compete alongside females. “Males are hurdling themselves forward in national rankings stealing scholarships, titles, and opportunities from women who have worked...

Iszac Henig, a transgender male, joined Yale’s men’s swimming team after finishing last year as an All-American female swimmer. Henig has taken hormones for eight months amid his transition, but the senior’s times are “about the same as they were at the end of last season,” he wrote in an op-ed piece for the New York Times on Thursday. Henig wrote that during a meet in November among 83 swimmers, he finished in 79th place. “I wasn’t the slowest guy in any of my events, but I’m not as successful in the sport as I was on the women’s team,”...