Lia Thomas: Rival critical of rules allowing transgender athlete to compete

Lia Thomas also competed in the 200 yard and 100 yard freestyle at the NCAA championships

Hungary's Reka Gyorgy has accused the National Collegiate Athletic Association of denying her a "spot in the final" of its swimming championships by allowing transgender Lia Thomas to compete.

Gyorgy missed out on a place in the consolation final by one spot.

"It hurts me," Gyorgy reportedly said in a letter sent to the NCAA.

"This is my last college meet ever and I feel frustrated.

"It feels like that final spot was taken away from me because of the NCAA's decision to let someone who is not a biological female compete."

Gyorgy, 25, competed at the Olympic Games for Hungary in 2016 and has been part of the Virginia Tech swimming team for five years.

She finished 17th in the preliminary races for the 500-yard freestyle, one place away from qualifying for the B final.

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Gyorgy acknowledged that Thomas is "doing what she is passionate about and deserves that right" but said she "would like to critique the NCAA rules that allow her to compete against us".

"I'm writing this letter right now in hopes that the NCAA will open their eyes and change these rules in the future," Gyorgy said.

"It doesn't promote our sport in a good way and I think it is disrespectful against the biologically female swimmers who are competing in the NCAA."

American Thomas swam for the Pennsylvania men's team for three seasons before starting hormone replacement therapy in spring 2019.

She has since shattered records for her university swimming team.

USA Swimming updated its policy for elite swimmers in February to allow transgender athletes to swim in elite events, alongside criteria that aim to reduce any unfair advantage, including testosterone tests for 36 months before competitions.

It said it "has and will continue to champion gender equity and the inclusivity of all cisgender and transgender women and their rights to participate in sport, while also fervently supporting competitive equity at elite levels of competition".

The new policy for elite athletes, it said, "acknowledges a competitive difference in the male and female categories and the disadvantages this presents in elite head-to-head competition".

The NCAA - which governs college-level swimming - ruled it would be wrong to implement the new rules mid-season, thus allowing Thomas to complete her final season.

There were some protestors outside the venue and in the stands at Georgia Tech throughout the championships - including when Thomas won her 500m freestyle title in the NCAA championships last week.

Thomas tied for fifth in Friday's 200-yard freestyle final and finished eighth in the 100-yard freestyle final - more than two seconds behind the winner - on Saturday, wrapping up her collegiate career.

Also competing in the 100m race was another transgender swimmer, Yale's Iszac Henig, who identifies as a transgender man, but has not gone through any hormone replacement therapy.

Henig was eligible to compete at the meet and finished tied for fifth - with the message "let trans kids play" written on both Henig and Thomas' arms.

Henig said: "It was incredible. It was a dream come true. This entire meet is filled with incredible athletes - I just feel honoured to be here competing.

"It was very important to me to do it and I am glad that Lia joined me," Henig said.

"There are so many bills in so many different states that want to bar trans athletes, I think I need to use the platform I have to speak out, and that is really powerful for me."