Lia Thomas is the Ivy League Champion in the 500 free

Personally, as someone who lurks here but isn't able to be public about this issue, I am all in favour of Lia Thomas continuing her rise to the top.

Sport is the touchstone by which many of my female TWAW friends are starting to question their beliefs, particularly the sporty ones. Once you have got them to accept that TWANW for the purposes of sport, then you can see the light beginning to dawn for them in other areas too.

So well done Lia Thomas - you are doing an excellent job.

#penncheats is one of the top trending topics on twitter in Ireland

But ignoring Lia is very, very telling.

Actually, I think the lack of response by the media, especially in the US, is telling. They should be celebrating the success of a member of the most oppressed minority ever and praising to the skies the inclusiveness of the competition and its authorities.

But they daren't. They daren't draw attention to it because they know what the reaction of the majority of people would be. They are terrified of the effect on the genderist campaign whose mast they've nailed their colours to.

Motorina, I think it is established that Thomas hasn’t had surgery. There have been several articles claiming that Thomas’ team mates are unconscious as Thomas sometimes is a bit careless in their locker room and shows off their male genitalia. This is usually stated straight after the acknowledgment that Thomas is attracted to women.

Seems defeatist, but perhaps need to take gender out of sports and make an ‘XX body’ category

Ross Tucker dissects the performance:

twitter.com/Scienceofsport/status/1494588013111881758

Here are the 50-yard splits from the medalists in the women’s 500-yard freestyle final at the Ivy League champs. A 15-year old pool record was broken. Pacing strategy 101: Which of these patterns suggests a significant reserve capacity and likely underperformance?

If you said, gold, you’d be right. In events lasting longer than about 3 min, negative pacing strategies and the characteristic endspurt (where we speed up at the end) are suggestive of someone who has maintained a reserve, producing a controlled effort below max for the race

A larger endspurt and a greater negative split reveal that a greater reserve was held. In effect, it speaks to how much “was in the tank" at the end. It’s produced when we tap into a reserve. Typically, max or optimal performances are achieved with slight negative or even splits

Indeed, the progression of world records in distance events is the result of “flattening” the curve. It used to be they started fast, slowed down, then sped up a bit (like the bronze medalist here). But optimal performances require flat lines. I’d say sliver is very close to this

But gold is an anomaly. This is a pattern that suggests a very comfortable effort, well managed and controlled, with significant capacity to go faster, realised in the final 50 yards only. If was a coach of that athlete, I’d be excited at the potential time if pacing was optimal.

And he reposts an screenshot from swimmingworld:

twitter.com/Scienceofsport/status/1494892731453386754

"Thomas' closing 50 appears to be the fastest in history [...] it is highly likely that Thomas is sandbagging her [sic] races in order to avoid the additional attention she [sic] would garner with faster times."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10529397/Transgender-UPenn-swimmer-Lia-Thomas-wins-preliminary-races-Ivy-League-swimming-championships.html

Well done Lia. A meet record. You must feel very proud.

"wonder how long before an over ambitious parent / coach takes a promising girl athlete and puts here on testosterone at puberty so she will have a larger frame / muscle mass and then stop after a few years so she can compete as an adult / older teen."

It wouldn't work all that well. For maximum effectiveness testosterone needs to be interacting with muscle, lung, bone cells that contain XY, not XX chromosomes. So it's better to take a biologically male body and just put a pink dress on it now and again.

Can’t help thinking it might have helped if he’d have picked a new name that was a bit female as a hint.

Thomas as the surname. Lia is the new female first name. I agree it’s confusing.

Thomas transitioned a year or so ago, and has had hormone treatment to lower testosterone as part of that. There is no suggestion that Thomas has had surgery.

334buwhat are the comments like on the Australian article? I don’t subscribe.

Neither do I but was able to read article and comments, all of which were saying that this was unfair.

How does one "live as a woman?"

Genuine question 😳 may be naiive so apologies.

Do we have to cut them and make them bleed for a week? Do we discriminate against them and give them unequal pay and opportunities? Or can we start asking that they return to the kitchen, or during a company board meeting as the only female, that they take the tea order? Or how about we bombard them with micro aggressions and sexual misconduct/abuse, some stalking or higher risk of DV and male violence?

Or is it just a pink frock and nail varnish on days ending in Y? 🙄

Excellent comment from Sharron Davies explaining the leg technique that others have noticed - using long distance technique of only kicking every second stroke whilst swimming a sprint because well who needs to use the correct/maximising technique when you have all that natural advantage?
mobile.twitter.com/sharrond62/status/1494746097021030403

Thomas cannot live as a women as he cannot push out his Y chromosomes, prostate gland etc, double his X chromosome, change puberty to develop breasts etc.he can, however, continue to lie.

I hope it’s not a biology scholarship.

so unfair to women. Lia should be ashamed, but clearly not.

Catherine's second win.

twitter.com/PennSwimDive/status/1494814984047583242?s=20&t=KO1abR5GIVljBrn82ZSu0Q

’What is Lia getting out of this?’

A scholarship to a very expensive university?

@334bu what are the comments like on the Australian article? I don’t subscribe.

I say - is there any news on when he will start transitioning or living as a woman?

I believe Thomas is "living as a woman" already? Isn't that why Thomas swims and changes with the women?

It doesn't make any sense to me but I think that's how the rules work now.

Lia Thomas broke a Harvard pool record - and the newspaper of record in MA didn't report it on the sports headlines. They reported high school sports before it. They know it is a cheat. We know it is a cheat . The women who competed with Thomas know what it is but cannot say anything or they will be villified on social media and ostracised on campus. What kind of a person is Thomas that they would do this to "fellow" women????

I am so disgusted by this and by the media's response - or rather lack of response.

Thomas is a cheat, simple as that. Catherine was the true winner of that race.

@Supersimkin2 yes Thomas is a male who looks like a man, who won a woman's competition.

It's amazing, beautiful and stunning that this happens...