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This year, Lia Thomas attracted media attention after taking first place in the 500-yard freestyle event at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I national championship. After her undergraduate swimming career, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Thomas plans to compete for a spot at the 2024 Olympics.
In an interview with ABC, Thomas said she is still swimming and hopes to represent the United States in the women's swimming event at the Olympics.
"It’s been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time and I would love to see that through."
She can be a part of the US Swimming team for the 2024 Olympics if she qualifies after clearing the US Olympics Trials. But before that, she must also be eligible according to World Aquatics guidelines for trans women.
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Eligibility criteria that Lia Thomas must meet to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics
Despite concerns regarding her eligibility earlier in the year, a decision by the NCAA in February made Lia Thomas eligible to participate in the championships.
Thomas said she intends to enroll in law school and carry on her preparations for the Olympic trials regardless of what she does in the upcoming competition.
In February 2022, the governing body said it would monitor testosterone levels to ensure they were below five nanomoles per liter for at least 36 months. Before altering its rules last month, the NCAA set a maximum of 10 nanomoles per liter for women's competition.
Thomas' route to the Olympics is still a mystery. She was initially not permitted to participate in competitions due to a rule established by USA Swimming. However, she qualified to compete last summer despite the new law requiring trans women to get hormone replacement treatment for at least three years before they can compete.
Previously, the International Olympic Committee was required to provide Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to trans women for a year. It was abandoned, allowing FINA (now World Aquatics), the sport's international governing body, to decide on transition regulations. We don't yet know what obstacles they will put in the way of trans women like Thomas.
Lia Thomas has had her part of the struggle
Lia Thomas has had a lot of success this year at the NCAA level. She is a solid possibility to take home the trophy in the next national competition. In the 200 and 500-yard freestyle competitions, she holds the fastest time in the nation.
Criticism of the performances has also come from people like three-time Olympic gold winner Nancy Hogshead-Makar. However, Brooke Forde, an NCAA rival and Olympic silver medalist, is among the USA Swimming members that continue to back Thomas.
Lia Thomas has participated in men's events at Penn before taking 2019–20 off to transition (the subsequent Ivy League season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic). She has participated in women's races and broken records, particularly grabbing attention at the Zippy Invitational in December.
She will be just the second openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympics, after Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand, if she is selected for Team USA and participates in the Paris Olympics. Before coming out to the public, Caitlyn Jenner participated in the 1976 men's decathlon.
