"Erase his name from the record books, and strip all titles won by him"- Fans react as Lia Thomas fails to defend her case against World Aquatics

Lia Thomas received heavy criticism yet again after she lost the legal battle against World Aquatics at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The transgender swimmer had challenged the swimming organization’s rules which ban athletes like herself from taking part in women's competitions.

After Thomas won over the female athletes with margins during the 2021 and 2022 NCAA Championships, which was followed by a massive outcry over social media, World Aquatics introduced changes in its eligibility criteria for the women’s competitions. Any transgender swimmer who had gone through ‘any part of male puberty’ was banned from the women's competition.

Thomas had argued that the rules were ‘invalid and unlawful’, and challenged the World Aquatics decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). However, her plea was dismissed, implying the 25-year-old won't be able to participate in any elite competitions or the Olympic Games.

Fans online welcomed the CAS’ decision and demanded that Lia Thomas be stripped of all the medals she had won, including the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships.

"I mean yes, he got everything that he deserved, but, call me crazy but I feel that if the NCAA based their policies on a case by case basis, William "Lia" Thomas, would have never competed against those women. Erase his name from the record books, and strip all titles won by him", a user declared.

"Now the @ncaa needs to strip him of every award, title, and record he stole from a deserving female athlete," activist Riley Gaines also demanded the same.

"This is great news, keep men out of women’s sports!" a user stated.

Several fans also argued that transgender swimmers such as Lia Thomas deliberately wanted to compete in women's sports. This claim comes after World Aquatics introduced an Open category for transgender swimmers in Berlin last year, but not a single entry was received.

"WA introduced a new 'open' category inclusive of transgender swimmers... However, the category was canceled after nobody signed up to enter the field." Because the slogan that trans-identified male athletes "just want to play" is a lie. They just want to play against women," a user stated.

"Thomas is not banned from competing. He's banned from swimming as a woman. He can of course compete with others who have XY chromosomes. Then again, in the men's category, he has about as much chance as Elvis to make the team," another user stated.

"Why don’t they just make a separate competition for transgender people? We got Olympics, special Olympics, why not just make the trans Olympics or something? Then no one can complain about unfair advantages," one user suggested.

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Lia Thomas calls on transgender women to fight for their ‘dignity’

2022 Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships

In a 24-page decision released by CAS, it concluded that Lia Thomas was “simply not entitled to engage with eligibility to compete in WA competitions.” Earlier, World Aquatics had argued that transgender athletes possessed physical advantages over female athletes, and for the same reason, the new rules were introduced.

After the CAS ruling, Thomas continued to maintain her stance that the rules were ‘discriminatory’ against ‘trans women’. She urged her fellow transgender swimmers to continue their fight for ‘dignity’ and ‘human rights’.

"The CAS decision is deeply disappointing. Blanket bans preventing trans women from competing are discriminatory and deprive us of valuable athletic opportunities that are central to our identities. The CAS decision should be seen as a call to action to all trans women athletes to continue to fight for our dignity and human rights," as per a statement released by Lia Thomas (via Newsweek).