"That is a fraud"- Florida Governer Ron DeSantis slams Lia Thomas' switch to women's category

Since becoming one of the first trans athletes to win the NCAA Division I title, Lia Thomas has been at the center of a debate on whether such athletes belong in women's sports.

Just recently, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed her for moving to the women's category after playing in the men's category for three years.

In a speech at Liberty University in Virginia, DeSantis said:

"It is wrong to have a swimmer compete for three years on the men's swim team, switch to the women's team and win the women's national championship. That is a fraud. That is wrong."

DeSantis also took a shot at the doctors who "pump minors with puberty blockers" and according to him, are performing sex-change operations.

"And now in Florida, physicians who do those things will lose their medical license."

Lia Thomas has become a symbolic figure for transgender athletes in the sport of swimming. She has been successful since switching to the women's category. Interestingly, she was in the men's squad at Ivy League School for three years before switching to the women's team at the Penn University.

Thomas secured an incredible win last March at the NCAA Championships in Atlanta. She became the first transgender athlete to win the women's 500-yard freestyle.

Widespread adoption of a new "gender inclusion policy" by FINA members limits participation in women's competitions for swimmers who underwent gender change before the age of 12. Additionally, the group suggested an "open competition category."

Lia Thomas' career and achievements

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas was born in Austin, Texas, in 1999. Her first professional accomplishment came while she was a student at Westlake High School, where she placed sixth in the state high school swimming championships.

In 2017, she began classes at the University of Pennsylvania. She began her hormone replacement medication in 2019, three years after initially competing in the male division. Thomas began participating in the women's division competitions later in the 2020–21 season.

Lia Thomas lost a lot of muscle mass and weight as a result of testosterone suppression and hormone replacement medication. She lost to four cisgender women at Yale, an Ivy League rival of UPenn, in January 2022, including Iszac Henig.

Later, in March 2022, Thomas made history by becoming the first openly transgender athlete to take home a national title in any sport at the NCAA Division I level.

Thomas' personal best as a female swimmer:

100 Freestyle - 47.37 - 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Championship
200 Freestyle - 1:41.93 - 2021 Zippy Invite
400 Freestyle Relay team - 2:01.41 - 2022 team (Thomas, Kaczorowski, Kannan, Carter)
500 Freestyle - 4:33.24 - 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Championship
800 Freestyle Relay team - 4:16.14 - 2022 team (Thomas, Kaczorowski, Kannan, Carter)
1000 Freestyle - 9:35.96 - 2021 Zippy Invite
1650 Freestyle - 15:59.71 - 2021 Zippy Invite

Thomas' personal best as a male swimmer

1000 FR - 8:57.55 - 2018 Ivy League Championships
1650 FR - 14:59.19 - 2018 Ivy League Championships
500 FR - 4:18.72 - 2019 Ivy League Championships
1000 FR - 8:55.75 - 2019 Ivy League Championships
1650 FR - 14:54.76 - 2019 Ivy League Championships