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Who is Reka Gyorgy? Swimmer slams NCAA rules after finishing behind Lia Thomas

Reka Gyorgy missed the cut-off to get into the consolation final in the 500 free, finishing in the 17th place

Virginia Tech swimmer Reka Gyorgy penned an open letter slamming the NCAA after being beaten by Lia Thomas and missing out on competing in the finals of the 500 free at the NCAA Championships. Gyorgy missed the cut-off to get into the consolation final in the 500 free, finishing in 17th place. 

Transgender University of Penn swimmer Lia Thomas finished with a 4:33.82 in the preliminaries. Thomas later won the race with a time of 4:33.24. 

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Who is Reka Gyorgy?

A Virginia Tech swimmer, Reka Gyorgy has studied Human Development and Family Studies, General. She worked as a social worker with Warm Heart Village and also with Virginia Tech Adult Day Service. She was also a volunteer at Virginia Tech Sports Medicine.

Her LinkedIn bio reads, "I am a student athlete at Virginia Tech. I have been representing Hokies for 6 years in the United States or internationally. I am going to graduate in May, 2022 in dual degree in Human Development and Psychology and minor in Disabilities Studies."

Addressing a letter directly to the NCAA and posting it to her private Instagram profile, Gyorgy wrote, "With all due respect, I would like to address something that is a problem in our sport right now and hurting athletes, especially female swimmers, Everyone has heard and known about transgender swimmer, Lia Thomas, and her case including all the issues and concerns that her situation brought into our sport. I’d like to point out that I respect and fully stand with Lia Thomas; I am convinced that she is no different than me or any other D1 swimmer who has woken up at 5am her entire life for morning practice. She has sacrificed family vacations and holidays for a competition. She has pushed herself to the limit to be the best athlete she could be. She is doing what she is passionate about and deserves that right. On the other hand, I would like to critique the NCAA rules that allow her to compete against us, who are biologically women."

"I’m writing this letter right now in hopes that the NCAA will open their eyes and change these rules in the future. It doesn’t promote our sport in a good way and I think it is disrespectful against the biologically female swimmers who are competing in the NCAA," she added.

A Hungarian, Gyorgy competed in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2016 Summer Games. "It feels like the final spot was taken from me because of the NCAA’s decision to let someone who is not a biological female compete," she wrote. "I know you could say I had the opportunity to swim faster and make the top 16, but this situation makes it a bit different and I can’t help but be angry or sad. It hurts me, my team and other women in the pool. One spot was taken away from the girl who got 9th in the 500 free and din’t make it back to the A final preventing her from being an All-American. Every event that transgender athletes competed in was one spot taken away from biological females throughout the meet."

Adding that the NCAA "knew what was coming this past week", Gyorgy wrote, "It is the result of the NCAA and their lack of interest in protecting their athletes. I ask the NCAA takes time to think about all the other biological women in swimming, try to think how the would feel if they would be in our shoes. Make the right changes for our sport and for a better future in swimming."

A lot of controversies have surrounded the transgender swimmer in recent times. Thomas, 22, is a transgender swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas competed for three years at Penn as a man, Will Thomas, before the transition. At a meet on November 20 last year, Thomas had a 1:43:47 time in the 200-meter freestyle and 4:35:06 in the 500-meter freestyle. These times, which were records for Penn, would have placed Thomas second and third, respectively in the NCAA Women’s Championships. Thomas breaking women’s records has, like always, raised questions about how fair it is when people who are born as men compete as women. There has been a lot of debate surrounding what is fair on the field, the court, the track, and in the pool.