Michael Phelps says the controversy surrounding transgender NCAA swimmer Lia Thomas is “very complicated.”
Thomas, a transgender swimmer on the women’s team at the University of Pennsylvania, competed for three years as a male. NCAA bylaws permit transgender athletes to compete as women if they have undergone testosterone suppression for a year.
Phelps, appearing with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour last week, spoke to the issue as one of doping, saying he doesn’t believe he’s competed in a fair field in his whole career.
“I think this leads back to the organizing committees again,” Phelps said. “Because it has to be a level playing field. That’s something that we all need. Because that’s what sports are. For me, I don’t know where this is going to go. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
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Thomas has been demolishing female competition. There is a chance she could not only win national championships, but compete for all-time NCAA records set by Olympic gold medalists Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky.
None of Thomas’ teammates have spoken on the record about their opinion on the matter, though some have chosen to do so anonymously to voice their concerns.
“She compares herself to Jackie Robinson. She said she is like the Jackie Robinson of trans sports,” one of Thomas’ teammates told the Washington Examiner last week.
“She laughs about it and mocks the situation. Instead of caring or showing that she cares about what she’s doing or what she’s doing to her teammates, she’s not sympathetic or empathetic at all. Lia never addressed our team. She never asked if it was OK. She never asked how we felt. She never tried to explain how she feels. She never has said anything to us as a group. She never addressed anything.”
This is an excerpt from the New York Post.
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