Thread by @KirstiMiller30

Are Trans Women competing fairly in Sport?
The threat to women’s sport has been overstated. Boy has it been overstated!

by Co-Editor @PaulSimon1971

stephsplace.uk/are-trans-wome…

https://twitter.com/PaulSimon1971/status/1477977824728334343

As reported by one media outlet: ”Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania has been shattering pool, meet and program records at the school.

The 22-year-old took down her competition in the 500-yard women’s freestyle preliminaries and finals at the Zippy Invitational at the University of Akron. Her winning time of 4:34.06 is now the best in the country for the event.”

So now let’s put that statement into true context – did Lia break a Woman’s record, yes she did – so is she now the fastest female swimmer at this distance, no she isn’t.

Because at another event within days of Lia’s widely reported ‘record shattering swim’, in the Women’s 500 free at a Junior Nationals (west) in Austin, 16 year old Bella Sims recorded a time of 4:32:28, and in the very same race 15 year old Katie Grimes touched the wall...

just behind her in 4:32:97 – So when two girls beat Lia’s time by around 2.5 seconds did those media outlets revise their ‘smashing all women’s records’ statement?

Lia also swam in another race in that event and this race also delivered media sensationalist headlines – Lia won the 1,650m race by a massive distance of 38 seconds!

Surely this is a sign that everything is not right? But again, let’s keep calm, take a step back, and look at the facts rather than the sensationalist headlines – yes, Lia won this race by a massive distance, but all this proved was her ability compared to those competing on...

that day – so how did her winning time compare to the Women’s NCAA record for this event – and the answer is Lia’s time was 56 seconds slower! So no, Lia is not dominating women’s Swimming, and here are her times compared to the US record times:

100 freestyle: Lia Thomas 49:42 - NCAA Women’s record 45:56
200 freestyle Lia Thomas 1:43:47 - NCAA Women’s record 1:39:10
500 freestyle Lia Thomas 4:35:06 - NCAA Women’s record 4:24:06   
1,650 freestyle Lia Thomas 15:59:71 - NCAA Women’s record 15:03:31

Lia, who is just 12 months into her treatment - has she retained all he male puberty advantages? Let’s not forget that pre transition Lia was recognised as a star swimmer and at High School 2016/17 was a Boy’s Regional Champion swimmer in the University Interscholastic League.

This is her best time comparison that clearly shows a reduction in her sporting ability since transition: 
 200 freestyle 1:43.47 – pre transition 1:39:31
500 freestyle Lia Thomas 4:35.06 - pre transition 4:18.72   
1,650 freestyle Lia Thomas 15:59.71 - pre transition 14:54:76

The impact is clear for all to see and only 12 months into her treatment it is clear that her sporting ability has dropped.