Ivy League confirms competition eligibility of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas

• The Ivy League has confirmed that transgender swimmer Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania will be eligible to compete at this month’s championships.
• It’s still unclear whether Thomas will be allowed to compete in next month’s NCAA Championships.
• The NCAA had updated its transgender participation policy last month to promote fairness for cisgender females.

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania will be allowed to compete at this month’s Ivy League Championships.

Despite the recent changes in the NCAA’s transgender participation policy, an Ivy League spokesperson informed Fox News in an email, “The recent rule changes do not impact Lia’s eligibility for this month’s Ivy League Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships as the effective date for this unprecedented midseason NCAA policy change begins with the 2022 NCAA Winter Championships.”

It’s still unclear, however, if Thomas will be allowed to compete in next month’s NCAA championships.

Last month, the NCAA stated that transgender participation will be determined on a sport-by-sport basis. In absence of a sport’s national governing body for the sport, the NCAA will follow the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) policy.

The changes will not yet impact Thomas’ eligibility this season, but could potentially be applied for the NCAA championships.

New guidelines were released by USA Swimming to promote fairness for cisgender females.

The new guidelines will rely on “science and medical evidence-based methods” to determine transgender athlete participation, “to provide a level-playing field for elite cisgender women, and to mitigate the advantages associated with male puberty and physiology.”

The new policy requires the decision of a panel of three independent medical experts to determine the eligibility of a male-to-female transgender athlete to compete in an elite swimming event.

Their decision will be based on the following criteria:

1. “Evidence that 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.”
2. “Evidence that the concentration of testosterone in the athlete’s serum has been less than 5 nmol/L (as measured by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry) continuously for a period of at least thirty-six (36) months before the date of application.”

Sixteen of Thomas’ female UPenn teammates recently sent a letter to the university and the Ivy League to urge them to follow the new USA Swimming rules regarding the eligibility of transgender athletes.

The championships for the Ivy League conference meet are scheduled from Feb. 16 to 19 and will be held at Harvard University.

Source: FOX Sports