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Lia Thomas' teammate speaks out against the trans swimmer, says 'women are now third-class citizens'

The anonymous swimmer also said that she wants more people to speak out against what she believes is a problem, but doesn't want to harm her future

Lia Thomas, aka Will Thomas, a member of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swimming team won 100 and 200-meter freestyle races against Harvard University on Saturday, January 22. One teammate, who preferred to remain anonymous, has spoken out against Thomas' win saying, "Women are now third-class citizens." 
 
The anonymous teammate talked about the advantages Thomas, 22, has gained through her transition from male to transgender, especially after the US Swimming team announced it will allow 'non-elite' athletes to compete in a way that is 'consistent with their gender identity.' 

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"Lia was not even close to being competitive as a man in the 50 and the 100. But just because Lia is biologically a man, [Lia] is just naturally better than many females in the 50 and the 100 or anything that [Lia] wasn’t good at as a man," said Lia's teammate in an interview with Washington Examiner. 

Thomas was on the UPenn men's team during her first three years, but now, she is competing on the women's team after transitioning from male to female. The teammate said, "The top people at NCAA, who are on the board of directors … they are not protecting women’s rights. Imagine if there was this kind of inequality in men’s sports. Or someone found out about doping in a men’s sport. It would be fixed in a blink of an eye. Everyone would be all over it. But because it’s women, they don’t care."

The anonymous UPenn swimmer also claims that many people agree with her, "People have come up to me and said this is so wrong". She continued, "I am typically liberal, but this is past that. This is so wrong. This doesn’t make any sense."

The anonymous swimmer also said that she wants more people to speak out against what she believes is a problem, but doesn't want to harm her future. "I'm trying to do everything I can without harming my future from stopping this from happening. I can’t just sit back and let something like this happen."

"I'm not just going to sit back and say, 'My rights are being taken away, too bad.' It's embarrassing that people aren't speaking out more." She added, "It's crazy because I don't actually know if Lia thinks this is fair." "This can't possibly be rewarding in any way. I can't see how anyone could feel good about this," she concluded.

On January 8, Thomas swam a 100-meter freestyle race in which Thomas' time was comparatively slower than previous times, permitting Yale swimmer Iszac Henig, who is biologically female but identifies as male, to win.

That prompted a young woman, who is on the same swim team as Thomas, to conclude that Thomas and Henig colluded before the race in order for Henig to win and thus, disprove the assumption that Thomas, as a biological male, could not be beaten by a biological female competitor.

The swimmer, who preferred to remain anonymous out of fear from activists, told Outkick, "Looking at [Lia’s] time, I don’t think she was trying. I know they’re friends and I know they were talking before the meet. I think she let her win to prove the point that, 'Oh see, a female-to-male beat me.'" 

Thomas’ teammate also noted that in the January 8, 200-meter freestyle race, Thomas only won by two seconds. She stated,  "I was on deck and said to a friend, 'She's literally not trying.' You could just tell. It was blatantly obvious. I was watching the 200 free and she was literally keeping pace with the other girls."