Fans React as Lia Thomas Becomes First Trans Athlete to Win at NCAA Championship

Lia Thomas made history at the NCAA Championships on Thursday. She became the first transgender woman to win the championships. Thomas is currently a senior at the University of Pennsylvania. With a season-best time of 4 minutes, 33.24 seconds, Thomas has scripted history.

Thomas was formally a male swimmer. However, after coming out as transgender, she began swimming the female championships. She beat freshman Emma Weyant by 1.75 seconds.

However, after her win, Lia has faced mixed reactions from her fans. While some have come out in full sport of her, there are others who have attacked her brutally. After her Championship win, netizens from all over flooded Twitter to relay some really harsh comments. At the same time, there were others who understood her current situation.

Users flood Twitter with hate messages for Thomas

Thomas spent 3 years competing at the university’s men’s team before transitioning and started swimming for the female team. With this transition, Thomas has been in the face of controversy time and again. Many people are unhappy about her sudden shift to the woman’s team. They question whether to not it is fair to the other women in the sport.

Unfortunately, the majority of the people still do not support Lia Thomas. They feel it’s unfair that a former male swimmer has come to participate in the women’s championships.

Notably, many of these reactions are from the parents of female swimmers. They feel it’s unfair to their daughters who have worked hard all their lives, only to be beaten by a ‘former man’.

Meanwhile, Thomas herself has revealed that she ignores these comments and tries to focus on her swimming.

Lia Thomas wins NCCA Championships amidst mixed reactions

Notably, Thomas ranked 462 in Men’s Swimming. But currently, she ranks No. 1 after winning the NCAA championships with a fair margin.

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American swimmer Eric Sullivan has come out in support of Thomas after swimming against her at the Championships. She believes that Thomas has been unfairly targeted and deserves all the respect for her win.

“Like anyone else in this sport, Lia has trained diligently to get to where she is and has followed all of the rules and guidelines put before her. She deserves, like anyone else in this sport, to be celebrated for her hard-won success,” said Erica.

Amidst all the hate, there were users who openly came out in support of Lia Thomas.

However, the amount of hate that Lia Thomas has received is concerning. Despite all the hate comments, Lia Thomas has gone on to become the champion.

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