Thread by @aWomanAthlete

Many have been focused on the 500 win he stole, but I haven't seen anyone do an analysis of the *total* impact of Lia Thomas competing at the NCAA championships.

So I will attempt to do one here.

Please add to this if you have additional points.
1/13

-Emma Weyant cheated out of the 500 national champion title
-Emma Weyant, Erica Sullivan and Brooke Ford cheated out of the 500 trophy and podium spot they earned.
2/13

-Evie Pfeifer cheated out of a 500 podium spot and trophy.
-Tylor Mathieu cheated out of the 500 championship finals.
-Reka Gyorgy cheated out of the 500 consolation finals.
3/13

-Reilly Tiltmann cheated out of the 200 championship finals.
-Ekaterina Nikonova cheated out of the 200 consolation finals.
-Isabel Ivey cheated out of the 100 championship finals.
4/13

-Chloe Stepanek cheated out of the 100 consolation final
-19 NCAA Div 1 women's swim programs definitely ranked illegitimately lower. Thomas scored ALL of Penn's NCAA championship points. ALL of them.
5/13

Penn was 20th out of 39 scoring schools and it is completely illegitimate- the ranking "achieved" by a single man by himself against a field of 182 women.

Additionally the school ranking towards the bottom 4 could very well be out of order...
6/13

..and Virginia Tech may have beaten Miami

Because there is a cascading effect of who would've had access to which finals points, really the entire school competition is called into question esp where points are close

This is the impact of ONE man in ONE sport at ONE event
7/13

It is also worth noting that he/Penn barely squeezed by the next closest schools but catching #19/AZ would've required making the podium in BOTH 200 & 100, which his prior times show he was capable of doing, but certainly would've drawn even more scrutiny than his 500 "win"
8/13

It would've been impossible to catch #18/Northwestern even if he had won both those events. The result really seems optimized to get Penn as far as possible, and let Lia "be the best woman" in something...
9/13

...while also leaving room for bad arguments citing women having beaten him, & him not making the podium in 2 out of 3 events.
10/13

Judging by his earlier season swim times, I think there is zero doubt he threw a Laurel Hubbard in the 200 and 100. Only thing that's debatable in my mind is whether that was the plan from the beginning, or was decided after the backlash to the 500.
11/13

He is going to fade into obscurity now, unless he makes good on his threats to pursue the Olympics.

But we all need to remember the negative impact he had on numerous women throughout this swim season. Both individuals, and entire schools that were cheated by him/Penn.
12/13

Before him, there were numerous men who did this same thing to women in other sports & for whatever reason didn't get this attention. There will be more unless we stop this insanity.

Do not forget him, and do not forget the women he stole from.
#PennCheats
13/13