University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas smashed the women’s 500-yard freestyle record at the Ivy League Championships Thursday while cruising to a first-place finish.
As Breitbart’s Warner Todd Huston reported via the New York Post, “Thomas, who is a man and competed as a man for nearly three years on the school’s men’s swim team, won the 500-yard race against a field of women with an unheard of time of 4:37.32, the best time ever recorded at Harvard University’s Blodgett Pool.”
Video of the trans swimmer’s domination quickly began making the rounds on the internet.
Lia Thomas is the @IvyLeague champion in the 500 free. Her time of 4:37.32 is a new pool record.
Catherine Buroker finishes in second.#FightOnPenn pic.twitter.com/ki2SQdxn6Q
— Penn Swimming & Diving (@PennSwimDive) February 17, 2022
It wasn’t long after that video was posted that Twitter users unleashed a torrent of criticism directed at Thomas, the NCAA, and the Ivy League. Chiefly, people were upset that these organizations allowed a male swimmer to compete against and dominate female competitors while enjoying an obvious physical advantage.
90% of people know it’s bullshit, they’re just afraid to say it.
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) February 18, 2022
500 free final @IvyLeague championships: Lia Thomas, formerly of the @PennSwimDive men’s team, won by over 7 seconds. You can hardly see the other women swimming at the far end of the pool by the time the race is over. For the women, “it was a race for second place.” pic.twitter.com/3ItZnsGMtR
— Emily Kreps (@ekreps) February 18, 2022
Lia Thomas is a biological male swimming against biological females. Whether she identifies as a girl is irrelevant to the fact that she was born a male, went through puberty as a male, and swam on the mens team for 3 years. Protect women’s sports.
— Colleen Young (@_CRYoung) January 21, 2022
ESPN weighed in with a startling grasp of the obvious. Though, they stopped short of saying exactly why Thomas enjoyed such a strength advantage over the rest of the field:
.@ESPN: “You can see the …powerful stroke of Lia Thomas where there isn’t a whole lot of movement in her legs. …it’s a much quieter stroke even though it’s more powerful than a lot of these other swimmers right now.” @SaveWomensSport @AbigailShrier @KDansky @coachblade pic.twitter.com/fOr3piBep6
— Emily Kreps (@ekreps) February 17, 2022
Congratulations to Catherine Buroker, who might have come second in this race, but as she lost to trans woman Lia Thomas (born a man) Catherine is the real winner here ???♀️ https://t.co/TgnPDn4mML
— Martin Daubney ✌? (@MartinDaubney) February 18, 2022
UPenn swimmer “Lia” Thomas is just a horrible human being.
He knows he’s destroying the sport for women, but the mentally ill spoiled brat couldn’t care less.
Shame on the @NCAA for destroying the championship and erasing all the hard work real women put in.
— John – Cancel The Left- Cardillo (@johncardillo) February 16, 2022
The “scrutiny” you’re referring to is noticing that Lia Thomas is not a woman competing in women’s events. https://t.co/bDLEKyWgHI
— Inez Stepman ⚪️?⚪️ (@InezFeltscher) February 17, 2022
Lia Thomas is cheating. https://t.co/tEbXQgyZha
— Mary Harrington (@moveincircles) February 18, 2022
Genuine question. Because it only takes one Lia Thomas in each event for women’s sports to be meaningless, long-standing records trashed. This is the future, so the LGBT-lobby who have pushed this through need to think of an answer #whatdowesaytothegirls
— Janice Turner (@VictoriaPeckham) February 18, 2022
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
I’m not afraid to say it, this is bullshit. What is happening to our beloved US of A? It seems like these people that thinks living like Sodom and Gomorrah is good for us.