Who is Lia Thomas? Details to know about The Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas

Lia Thomas, who made history as the first transgender swimmer to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship, has finished her college swimming career. Thomas, a fifth-year senior at the University of Pennsylvania, won first place in the women’s 500-yard freestyle two weeks ago. She finished the race in four minutes and 33.24 seconds, almost two whole seconds faster than the next swimmer. Colorado GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert is leading a revolution in the House of Representatives to honor the runner-up to transgender swimmer Lia Thomas as the “rightful winner” of the NCAA Women’s 500-yard freestyle swim. “It’s the women’s race, and a man improperly took the first place title from Emma,” Boebert told. Boebert said she doesn’t know Weyant and hasn’t spoken to her, but was motivated to author the resolution because “I truly believe in giving honor where honor is due and Emma is absolutely worthy of honor.” Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis last week issued a proclamation that Weyant – a Florida native – is the rightful winner. After the winning race, Thomas didn’t participate in the official news conference as required by the NCAA but addressed the controversy. “I try to ignore it as much as I can,” Thomas said. “I try to focus on my swimming, what I need to do to get ready for my races. And just try to block out everything else.” 

Who is Lia Thomas?

Lia Thomas is an American transgender competitive swimmer and a senior student at the University of Pennsylvania. She is famous for becoming the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 4:33.24 on 31st March 2022. Thomas previously competed on UPenn men’s swim team for three years as Will before transitioning in 2019. 

Source: @news.sky.com

Lia Thomas Family: Where is she from?

Lia Thomas took birth in the year 1998 which makes her the present age of 22. She grew up and spent her early life in Austin, Texas, the USA with her sibling, an older brother. She began swimming at the age of five, and was sixth in the state high school swimming championships, competing for Westlake High School. Since 2017, she has been attending the University of Pennsylvania. By nationality, she is American and she belongs to American-White. She has not stated anything regarding her family identity. 

Lia Thomas Height, Weight, Surgery

Lia Thomas is a young and beautiful lady with an athletic body type standing at the height of 6 feet 1 inch. Her body weight consists of 65 KG. She has attractive dark brown eyes. At present, she lies at the center of controversy about the participation of transgender in female sports. Lia identifies as transgender. She was born as a guy and subsequently opted to have gender reassignment surgery. She transitioned surgically to a girl. Back then, when she was a boy, she competed as Will Thomas for three years. “Being trans hasn’t hindered her ability to conduct this activity,” she explained in an interview, “and her being able to continue really rewarding”. She is honored to represent the LGBTQ community on the sports field. She began transitioning using hormone replacement therapy in May 2019 and came out as a trans woman during her junior year to her coaches, friends, and the women’s and men’s swim teams at the University of Pennsylvania. She lost muscle mass and strength through testosterone suppression and hormone replacement therapy. 

Source: @hollywoodsmagazine.com

Lia Thomas Career, Record, and Ranking

• Lia started swimming on the men’s team at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. 
• During the time, Thomas recorded a time of 8 minutes and 57.55 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle ranked as the sixth-fastest national men’s time, as well as 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle times ranked within the national top 100.
• Thomas finished second in the men’s 500, 1,000, and 1,650-yard freestyle at the Ivy League championships as a sophomore in 2019.
• Thomas recorded the top university men’s team times in the 500 free, 1000 free, and 1650 free during the 2018-2019 season. 
• After she began transitioning using hormone replacement therapy in May 2019, she came out as a trans woman. 
• During Thomas’ 2018-2019 season, she ranked 554 in the 200 freestyle, 65 in the 500 freestyle, and 32 in the 1650 freestyle.  
• After then, she swam on the women’s team in 2021–2022 after taking a year off school to maintain her eligibility to compete while competitive swimming was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Further, she has followed all of the gender-related policies to be eligible to compete as a woman in NCAA swimming.
• Her career peaked in 2019 for distance swimming and later, her event progressed at the start of the 2021-2022 season before returning to near-lifetime bests in the 100 free and a lifetime personal best in the 50 free in 2021. 
• During her 2021-2022 season her rank is 5 in the 200 freestyle, first in the 500 freestyle, and eighth in the 1650 freestyle competing in the women’s team. 
• She finished in 6th place in the 100m freestyle race, losing to four cisgender women and Iszac Henig, a transgender man (transitioning without hormone therapy) in a race during January 2022. 
• She then came to huge fame after she became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport, after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:33.24; Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant was second with a time 1.75 seconds behind Thomas. 
• In the preliminaries for the 200 freestyle, Thomas finished second. 
• In the final for the 200 freestyle, Thomas placed fifth with a time of 1:43.50. 
• In the preliminaries for the 100 freestyle, Thomas finished tenth. 
• In the finals for the 100 freestyle, Thomas placed eighth out of eight competitors in 48.18 seconds, finishing last. 
• Her last college swimming event was the March 2022 NCAA championship. 
• As per the swimming data website Swimcloud, she is ranked 36th among female college swimmers in the United States for the 2021-2022 season, and 46th among women swimmers nationally.
• According to Sports Illustrated, she has applied for law school and plans to swim at the 2024 Summer Olympics trials. 
• In a January 10, 2022 article, The Washington Post wrote, “Thomas has shattered school records and has posted the fastest times of any female college swimmer in two events this season. She’ll probably be a favorite at the NCAA championships in March, even as people inside and outside the sport debate her place on the pool deck.”
• In February 2022, Vicky Hartzler, a Republican Senate candidate in Missouri, featured Thomas in a campaign advertisement asserting that “Women’s sports are for women, not men pretending to be women”, which was described by CNN as “a transphobic trope belittling trans women”. 
• In February 2022, CNN described Thomas as “the face of the debate on transgender women in sports”, and in March 2022, Sports Illustrated described her as “the most controversial athlete in America”.

Source: @marca.com

Who is Lia Thomas Dating?

Lia Thomas is currently single and she is not dating anyone at present. While he was a man back then, he does not have a girlfriend. He is neither engaged nor married to anyone. Her sexuality is transgender. She is currently focusing on her career rather than being in a relationship. She is enjoying her present life happily without any disturbances.