University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines spoke out against University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas on Wednesday.
Gaines, who tied Thomas in the women’s 200-meter freestyle event at the NCAA championships in Atlanta, GA, said the NCAA handled the situation “extremely poorly” because they gave Thomas the fifth-place trophy and told her to pose with the sixth-place trophy.
“Me and Lia just recently tied at the NCAA championships,” Gaines told Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” “And honestly, I think the NCAA handled everything extremely poorly, starting from when we finished, and I went behind the podium to collect my f trophy, and you know, they kind of blatantly told me that Lia would hold the fifth place trophy and that I could pose with the sixth place trophy for photos and would be mailed a fifth place trophy in the mail.”
“And when I kind of questioned it, you know, I asked them, is there a reason why you’re giving Lia the trophy? He just explained to me that we’re giving it in chronological order, and I questioned him again, you know, what does that mean? We tied what are we being chronological about? He kind of blatantly said, we’re just going to give the trophy to Lia. We respect and admire your swim, but Lia needs to hold the trophy,” she added. “I was baffled really.”
Gaines described having to compete against a biological male as “totally wrong” and “unfair.”
“[I]’m just fortunate enough to where I have such an amazing support system at the University of Kentucky, whether that be from the athletic director all the way down to my head coach, Lars Jorgensen,” she proclaimed. “But just speaking for them, it’s just totally wrong. And I know I can’t speak for everyone, but I am almost certain I’m speaking for a large majority of female athletes, that this is just not OK, and it’s not fair. And, you know, we’re dealing with something that’s completely out of our control when we’re racing, you know, biological males.”
Gaines continued, “Whether that be they have, you know, different lung capacities, their high, obviously, testosterone levels, whether you be on testosterone blockers or not, it doesn’t suppress, you know, going through puberty as a male, especially, you know, the one in question who swam three years as a male on UPenn. So it just completely unfair. And it’s a matter of equity, really.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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