"We didn't get a heads up" - Lia Thomas' former teammate Reka Gyorgy opens up on sharing locker room with transgender swimmer

Hungarian swimmer Reka Gyorgy recently reflected on the locker room incident including transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.

At the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships, Thomas was assigned the girls' locker room. She shared the same locker room as the other female athletes including Gyorgy and Riley Gaines. The transgender swimmer was later accused of exposing male genitalia.

In a recent interview with The Free Press, Gyorgy recalled the incident, stating her discomfort with the arrangements.

"You expose your body to everybody who is in the locker room. Everybody can see you. And spending that much time with somebody who you don't feel comfortable with it just makes it even worse."

"And like we were forced at the NCAA's to do this, you know like, as Riley said we didn't get a heads up. I mean, I guess-can I say I'm lucky myself just because my coach told us the day before of the competition that, yeah, they asked the question at the coach's meeting and the NCAA said Lia is going to change with you guys in the locker room."

The Virginia Tech swimmer admitted that she received a heads-up from her coach, but some young girls hadn't had exposure to male nudity before, adding that it wasn't the right thing to do.

"So I got a heads up, but it doesn't change a thing. It might sound silly for some people, but we had 18 to 22-year-old girls in the locker room, and some of them may have not seen a naked male before and that's just not right."

Gyorgy filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for transgender policy and violation of Title IX with Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer.

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Lia Thomas pursues legal action against the World Aquatics

Lia Thomas takes legal action against World Aquatics.

Earlier this year, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas initiated legal proceedings against the International Federation of Swimming - World Aquatics, to resume competing.

In 2022, World Aquatics amended rules and prohibited transgender swimmers from competing in the female categories. Before the changes in rules, transgender women were allowed to compete in female categories under the conditions of low testosterone levels.

Taking into account the physical advantages held by transgender athletes compared to female athletes, World Aquatics made changes in the participation rules.

This forced Lia Thomas to stop competing. Keeping the gaze fixed on competing in the upcoming Olympics in the French Capital, Thomas sued the organization by hiring the Canadian law firm Tyr to represent the case in the Court of Arbitration in Sports.