Transgender swimmers Lia Thomas and Iszac Henig achieve FASTEST SPLIT times in relay
Two transgender swimmers in their early 20s competed as women and recorded the fastest split times. Lia Thomas, 22, and Iszac Henig, 21 secured the high bar right on the first night of the Ivy League Women's Championship on Wednesday, February 16. This victory led to questions about the two and their participation in the competition.
At Harvard University, Thomas and Henig competed head-to-head as they swam the first leg of the 800-yard freestyle. After a tough battle, Thomas representing Penn achieved a time of 1:44:50 while Henig for Yale scored 1:44:65.
READ MORE
Lia Thomas, 22 was representing the men's team of Penn State in 2019. This is when she started her medical transition by taking testosterone blockers and estrogen. Currently, she is allowed to compete as a woman as she has completed one year of the hormone treatment. Iszac Henig, on the other hand, is transitioning from female to male. However, it is reported that Henig has not taken any testosterone and is, therefore, able to compete as a woman. As seen, the Yale swimmer swam topless, with a pair of men's swimming briefs.
The results said Harvard was victorious with Yale securing second place, and Penn the third. This competitive meet feature races every day through Saturday. They began on Thursday, February 17 with individual competitions.
Earlier in February 2022, USA Swimming announced a new requirement. It states that transgender women must supress their testosterone levels for at least three years before competing. Now under this new guideline, Thomas would have been excluded. Hence, it appeared that in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships in March, Thomas would have been barred.
However, the authorities looked at the current condition of the national body college sports, they ruled that instituting a new policy in the middle of the season would be unfair and thus allowed Thomas to compete at the NCAA championships.
Former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner, who won gold in the decathlon as Bruce Jenner, criticized Thomas for swimming in women's races. A three-time gold medalist Nancy Hogshead-Makar said, "'If a cis woman gets caught taking testosterone twice, she's banned for life, whereas Lia has had 10 years of testosterone. t's about the principle of having sport continue to be sex-segregated: having a space where women are really honored and where they can triumph."
