Penn’s Lia Thomas breaks 200/500 Free records in meet with Princeton, Cornell

[Helleofabore]

USA women’s freestyle swimming records were broken this weekend!!!

To all those who keep using the ‘scale’ argument to justify inclusion of males in female sport, tell us again how it takes more than one male competing in female sport to significantly and negatively impact that sport?

I am very happy to hear your well thought out and evidenced reasoning.

swimswam.com/penns-lia-thomas-breaks-200-500-free-records-in-meet-with-princeton-cornell/

Penn’s Lia Thomas blasted the number one 200 free time and the second-fastest 500 free time in the nation on Saturday, breaking Penn program records in both events. She swept the 100-200-500 free individual events and contributed to the first-place 400 free relay in a tri-meet against Princeton and Cornell in her home pool.

Sounds wonderful until you realise that for their first three years competing in the competition, they competed as a male.

twitter.com/coachblade/status/1465517693386121217?s=21

Coach Linda Blade’s tweet says :

Well of course women’s records are being smashed!

Lia competed as male for first three years in #NCAA.

This is not right!

We need to return to #SexBasedSports!

#SexNotGender to preserve fairness for female athletes.

Congratulations to Emma Weyant. Fastest woman in the 500 yard freestyle.

@334bu

Yes! The other swimmers all have froth behind them from kicking so hard and Lia has none. Lia barely even creates a wake. Also look at those long ass arms reaching out of the water.

One of the brave swimmers has spoken out. I hope she gets a lot of support and inspires others to do so. Her Mum joined the tweet thread to say how proud she was of her.

It makes me sad how careful she is trying to word what she wants to say despite being one of the victims in this hideous situation.

It's hard to imagine a starker example of male supremacy than L Thomas and the system colluding with his behaviour.

twitter.com/RapidFire_Pod/status/1504577845494005767

Oh and if anyone who has a twitter account fancies replying to this life long Democrat guy who is predictably asking " where are the feminists?" please fill your boots.

twitter.com/Brian_Sanders3/status/1504608633878896648

Ok. 200 Yd Free prelim results 1.42.09 Not the fastest qualifier but is very close second.

Previous times

200 Free

20/11 1.43.47
5/12 1.41.93
8/1/22 1.48.73
22/1/22. 1.47.08
18/3/22 1.42.09

So in December swam just a smidge under the time that Taylor Ruck has just qualified with (1.41.89)

And Reilly Tiltmann from Virginia has missed a place in the final.

I see that Thomas is in the 100 yd with Isaac Henig that too.

The SMH has had a go at this issue. I suspect the author thinks he's written a balanced article, but the final 2 paras are very telling.
www.smh.com.au/sport/swimming/lia-thomas-transgender-swimmer-is-sending-shockwaves-through-her-sport-20220318-p5a5uu.html

I also meant to say thank you for all your updates @Helleofabore !

This is good to see www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/texas-womens-alums-write-letter-on-lia-thomas-participation-in-ncaa-championships/

Apparently my comment on the smh article will be looked at by the moderators shortly... might explain why there appear to be 0 comments

Thanks for the SMH link Cracker. As you say, Beal had a go. I wonder, just wonder, what female athletes really think can be done to allow males into female sport. It would take a miracle. They must know that, but continue to try for the middle ground. Obviously, there is a motivation to avoid abuse and the removal from positions.

I will update with Thomas’ race times from yesterday later when I am on a bigger screen. They didn’t win this final.

They have one more race to do and I will then pop that in. We shall see the story unfold.

And see how the times have changed throughout the season. And yes, changes are to have been expected. But is it normal to see such a swing?

Or, did they really deliberately slow down mid season to avoid more media and to also allow their friend, Henig, to win?

So the final for the 200y free was not won by Thomas.

200 Free

20/11 1.43.47
5/12 1.41.93
8/1/22 1.48.73
22/1/22. 1.47.08
18/3/22 1.42.09 preliminary
18/3/22 1.43.40 final

The winner, Taylor Ruck swam 1.41.12. Just faster than her qualifying time of 1.41.89.

Missy Franklin holds that NCAA record with 1.39.10 set in 2015.

Thomas placed 5th in that finals race yesterday.

Very good Ross Tucker thread on Twitter, apologies if it’s already been linked.

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1504713620403458049.html

There are some good, supportive comments on the thread if you’d rather read the whole thing: twitter.com/scienceofsport/status/1504713620403458049?s=12

Well, that is really weird.

It seems that the NCAA has not released the preliminary results for the 100y free. They released all others but nothing on this race. It is like they are hiding the result.

I did see a snippet on Twitter that Thomas did not do well.

Maybe the other swimmers reaction in the 200y has sunk in that there is little support for this. Fox News broadcast this clip where the swimmers all ignored Thomas who walked off but all the female swimmers had a massive group hug.

www.foxnews.com/sports/lia-thomas-ties-fifth-200-freestyle-ignored-competitors-exits-pool

If I find the timings for the 100 y I will add them.

I am hopeful that the message is getting through that allowing this inclusion is not supported by female swimmers and that swimming organisations around the world take note. Even if you force silence on these athletes, they will be left with little choice to show their anger.

But the anger is building.

Here is the 100 y prelim time the final has not been released. Again Thomas’ race details seem to be delayed

100 Free
20/11 49.42
5/12 51.94
22/1/22 50.55
20/1/22 47.63
19/3/22 47.37 prelim
19/3/22 ? Final

Henig also qualified in the final, 8th with 47.55

Good letter here from parents

nypost.com/2022/03/18/parents-of-ivy-league-swimmers-write-letting-lia-thomas-swim-isnt-fair/amp/

Updated

Thomas finished last in the final

100 Free
20/11 49.42
5/12 51.94
22/1/22 50.55
20/1/22 47.63
19/3/22 47.37 prelim
19/3/22 48.18 Final

www.foxnews.com/sports/lia-thomas-last-place-final-ncaa-championships

Gretchen Walsh came first with 46.05. Congratulations Gretchen.

Thanks littl.

I wasn’t aware of the effort being invested by way of meetings, and paraphernalia being produced by the universities to support Thomas’ inclusion. And I wasn’t aware that other universities had silenced their swimmers as well.

As a comeback to all those who had in the past told regular posters here that we are ‘going to die soon and the world is a wonderful and inclusive dream when we do’, I hope you read that article posted by littl and that you also see the footage of the university students who have nothing to lose anymore so have joined the picket lines. They have given interviews.

Fuck off with the ‘the young people get it’ rhetoric! Of course, young people are supportive until they actually realize what they are supporting. Many of us would have been too, until we had children, or until we experienced the effects in the work place.

That generation 18-29 have been polled as being the least tolerant of the population in the UK last year by Dr Luntz in a Yougov poll project. Luntz has described the UK as being about 3 years behind the US.

Those saying ‘the next generation are the key’, you are not thinking this through. That generation you are counting on are actually quite repressive in comparison. If their illusions about this ideology are shattered, and they can’t even talk to their friends about it they are going to be motivated to join feminist groups even more.

Lia Thomas has been a hinge moment in these young women’s lives. It directly affected numerous young women, even those who were supportive but now realised that their university, supposedly a bastion of free speech, is trying to control their speech.

And supportive posters don’t see it !

If those posters telling us the young people are more tolerant cannot see those young women did what they could to show their anger while silenced by their universities in having photos taken without Thomas and having massive group hugs by the pool excluding Thomas, it is you who are missing the change.

The pushback is building.

Pipe down, says Labour MP Charlotte Nichols:

twitter.com/charlotte2153/status/1505130262778236933

As a former competitive swimmer, indeed, I know full well how much training is required for a title like this and anyone nastily trying to diminish Lia Thomas's incredible achievement because of lazy transphobia should frankly pipe down.

Huge congratulations to her 🏆

Some MP’s seem to absolutely love trolling women for fun these days.

The only response to that tweet severn is to remind that person that the women’s races are not a consolation prize.

Thomas could have stayed swimming in the male competition. And if they did have negative repercussions on performance due to medication so couldn’t stay swimming competitively, then they join millions of people who had to make a decision about their own health - take the medication and have to drop out of the sport they love.

Of course, Thomas should also realise that they have medicated their healthy body, while others have had to medicate to maintain their bodies health and still lost their position in sports teams. So therefore, Thomas had more choice than many others.

The thing is this is still shit fir women

This will now be presented as “see! You nasty nasty women!!! LT isn’t always going to win so it’s fine to keep everything as it is” or “see! You nasty nasty women!!! You were so horrid and mean to poor LT they couldn’t even swim properly”

Ah Charlotte demonstrating why so many women won’t vote Labour

Couldn't agree more Helle

@Theeyeballsinthefuckingsky

The thing is this is still shit fir women

This will now be presented as “see! You nasty nasty women!!! LT isn’t always going to win so it’s fine to keep everything as it is” or “see! You nasty nasty women!!! You were so horrid and mean to poor LT they couldn’t even swim properly”

That is how it will be spun.

But the effect will be that those young women will double down and may even become more disillusioned because of it.

So apparently if men and women were allowed to compete together, we would end up repeatedly beating them and make them feel bad. There is no reason at all to imagine women would repeatedly come last in most sports. Nope. None. Sports were only ever segregated because we beat men so often in so many things.

twitter.com/shereebekker/status/1504899936843935746