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Lindsey Vonn reacted to transgender swimmer Lia Thomas' fate of not qualifying for the Paris Olympics following a verdict by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). According to Vonn, she herself was denied contention with male athletes several times in her skiing career, which makes the similar treatment of biological men seeking to participate in women's swimming come as no surprise for her.
Lia Thomas, 25, became the first transgender athlete to win the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Division 1 National Championship. However, after tying in the 200-yard freestyle at the Championship at fifth place with University of Kentucky's Riley Gaines, Thomas faced a backlash from a section of obervers and attained the title 'the face of the debate on transgender women in sports', bestowed by CNN.
Thomas has thus been the central topic of discussion for those rallying against trans-women's inclusion in women's sports. In January this year, Thomas filed a suit against World Aquatics requesting the governing body to retract its policies preventing those who underwent male puberty from competing with women so that she can compete in the upcoming Paris Olympics.
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The CAS issued a 24-page verdict stating that Thomas was not eligible for women's elite sports. British former swimmer Sharron Davies supported the ruling. She wrote on X,
"Good, no elite female athlete will have to lose out to this mediocre 6’4ft male swimmer."
Former alpine skier Lindsey Vonn also shared her side of the story and how she was not allowed to participate with male skiers despite continuous requests, replying to Davies and others on X,
"Correct. My bid to race with the men was rejected year after year. Men’s sports are not open to women to compete in, or at least skiing wasn’t."
Confident of her abilities, Vonn wished to race with the men and requested the International Ski Federation to approve her plea to race in the men's Downhill event. However, her request was denied with FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis saying (via Los Angeles Times):
"It’s called the men’s World Cup and the ladies’ World Cup. FIS and World Cup points are not transferable from one circuit to another."
“I think that was probably one of the most frustrating things" - Lindsey Vonn opened up about not being able to race with men
In a conversation with Euronews in 2019, the 82-time World Cup winner revealed that one of the regrets of her career was not being able to surpass Swede legend Ingemar Stenmark's 86 World Cup wins.
However, another regret she shared was that she was never in contention with the male skiers even though she felt she could match their speeds.
"I think that was probably one of the most frustrating things, besides not breaking the [victory] record. I really wanted to compete against the men, because they’re faster than the women and I wanted to improve myself. It wasn’t men against women, it was just men were better and I wanted to race against the best.”
Five years after retirement, Lindsey Vonn is still associated with various sports, especially skiing, tennis and football.
