According to Sports Illustrated, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, wants to continue competing after college with the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials as a goal.
"I don't know what the future of my swimming will look like after this year, but I would love to keep it going," Thomas told Sports Illustrated in a story published Thursday. "I want to swim and compete for who I am."
Thomas, who set the nation's best times in the 200 (1:41.93) and 500 (4:34.06) earlier this season, has been at the center of a debate about competing and winning in women's sports. Before competing on the women's team, Thomas spent three seasons on the men's team at Penn.
"The simple answer is that I'm not a man. I'm a woman, so I'm on the women's team," Thomas told SI. "Trans people deserve the same respect that every other athlete gets."
Thomas, who has applied to law school, is scheduled to compete in the 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyle events at the NCAA Women's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships. The NCAA announced on February 10 that Thomas would be eligible to compete at the March 16–18 Women's Championship in Atlanta in compliance with previous NCAA regulations and once she submitted a serum level that proved her testosterone . Less than 10 nanomoles per liter.
"I just want to show trans kids and younger trans athletes that they are not alone," Thomas told SI. "They don't get to choose who they are and the sport they love."
This includes competing in larger events going forward, perhaps in international competitions such as the U.S. including representing.
USA Swimming officials told Sports Illustrated that Thomas will be allowed to represent the United States in the women's category, as long as she continues to meet the criteria for participation.
"I've been reinvigorated," Thomas told Sports Illustrated. "I've been swimming for 17 years, but [only] for a small part of the time I've felt completely engaged. After coming out and being my authentic self, I could really start to see the future." . Before coming out, I couldn't imagine the future."