Who is Riley Gaines? Swimmer opens up on Lia Thomas controversy and says women's team have been told to KEEP QUIET
A University of Kentucky swimmer who tied with Lia Thomas at NCAA championship in March has spoken against the transgender UPenn swimmer’s participation in women's team.
Riley Gaines spoke to Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night, April 6, where she said several fellow competitors think Thomas’ participation is “totally wrong”.
She also revealed that other swimmers were instructed to not say anything against Thomas’ participation before accusing the NCAA of tackling the situation “extremely poorly”. Gaines told Carlson: “I know just talking to tons, and tons of NCAA swimmers that their athletic directors, their media people and their coaches or other outside influencers have told them ‘don't say anything, just avoid the situation, save face a little bit’. But I'm just fortunate enough to have such an amazing support system at the University of Kentucky, whether that be from the athletic director all the way down to my head coach.”
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She added, “But just speaking for them it's just totally wrong. I know I can't speak for everyone but I'm almost certain that I'm speaking for large majority of female athletes and this is just not okay. And it's not fair. We're dealing with something that's completely out of our control when we're racing, biological males whether they have different lung capacities, their height, testosterone levels whether they've used testosterone blockers are not. It doesn't suppress going through puberty as a male. Especially Lia who swam for three years as a male. It's completely unfair and it's a matter of equity really.”
During the interview, Gaines also recalled the time when she and Thomas ranked fifth in the 200-yard freestyle NCAA championships but Thomas was given the trophy. She said, “Once we finished the race, I went behind the podium to collect my fifth place trophy and was plainly told me that Lia would hold the fifth place trophy and then I could pose with the sixth place one for photos and that a fifth place trophy would be sent in the mail.”
The swimmer mentioned, “The NCAA official came up to me, and he said, ‘Hey, that was a great swim. We only have one fifth place trophy,’ which I understood, I get how that works. But he said, ‘We're gonna have to give the trophy to Lia,’” before noting: “I was shocked because all the other swimmers who were standing by listening to this were also shocked and standing right next to Lia and she heard it all, so it is kind of just really baffling that this could happen and I know the NCAA wasn't prepared for situation like this. When they were faced with it they protected such a small minority.”
Gaines also raised her concern regarding violation of women's rights across the board. She stated: “I think that there is a definite difference between you and your gender identity and I think that it's just been totally misconstrued and lost in the past couple of years or so. It's finally gone to the point where it's being shown and that it is completely violating women and women's rights especially in sports.”