Earlier this year, former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines competed against University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200-yard freestyle final at the NCAA Women’s Championships.
Gaines and Thomas tied for fifth. However, Gaines was not awarded the fifth-place trophy.
During an interview with Mobile, AL radio’s FM Talk 106.5, Gaines discussed how the NCAA seemed to favor Thomas given every opportunity, which she said later called “political.”
“Like you mentioned, I swam for the University of Kentucky,” she said. “I just graduated this past May. But last year, in March, my senior year, the NCAA announced that Lia Thomas, I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with that name, would be competing with the women. Now, Lia Thomas was a senior swimmer who swam three years on the men’s side at UPenn, then switched over to the female side. So, we were all curious what this was going to look like. But when we were there, we watched Lia Thomas win a national title in the 500 [yard] freestyle, beating out American record-holders, the fastest women to ever swim by seconds, which I want to add, seconds in swimming is a lot. This is a sport that is measured down to the hundredth of a second. So, to have someone who not even the year prior was ranking in the 500s, 600s as a male then winning a national title for the females by seconds – the information is right there to see that this is blatantly wrong and unfair.”
“But that next day, after Thomas won the national title, Thomas and I competed against each other in the 200-yard freestyle,” Gaines continued. “Miraculously enough, we actually tied. So we went the exact same time down to the hundredth of a second. Upon tying, we go behind the award’s podium where the NCAA official passes out the trophies, but he looks at us and says, ‘Hey, great job. You guys tied. We only have one trophy, so we’re going to give it to Lia.’ And so I look at him, and I say, ‘OK, I understand there’s only one trophy, but can I ask you why you’re adamant on giving this trophy to Lia, who is a biological man?’ And he looks at me and says, ‘We’re just doing this in chronological order.’ And so, I further press him because I realize what is happening, and I say, ‘OK, but what are we being chronological about?’ He looks at me and says, ‘Well, for photo purposes, Lia has to hold the trophy. You can pose with this one, but we will be taking it back, and you will not go home with one today. Lia will take this one home.'”
“It was really at this point I realized that we as female athletes were not just being forced to compete with men and change with men with male genitalia,” she added. “It was at this point I realized we as female athletes are being sidelined to men – just being completely put on the back burner, which goes against everything Title IX was created to protect.”
According to the former University of Kentucky swimmer, the NCAA’s treatment of Thomas was “shamelessly political.”
“That’s exactly what this is,” Gaines said. “They used Thomas as a political pawn, and I was only further reassured of that when the NCAA nominated Thomas for NCAA Woman of the Year, which is the highest honor for female athletes in all of college. It encompasses your athletic achievements and also what you’ve accomplished academically, within your community, your character, your leadership – all of these things that would make this award so special and so powerful. But they totally devalued that award. It is meaningless now.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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