There has been controversy about the trans into the world of sports. Many have argued whether letting them compete in sex-based games can be considered fair. The authorities allowed the trans to be part of the sports, and much dissatisfaction was raised after a trans was crowned champion.
After Lia Thomas’ victory in the championships, a group of University of Arizona swimmers wrote to the NCAA to voice their grave worries about the condition of women’s swimming.
Olympic and NCAA champions demand action to protect women’s swimming, says NCAA’s response is not good enough https://t.co/ZWDjET96nf
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 10, 2022
Ex-National Champion Marshi Smith told Fox News that since Title 9 was adopted, young moms like herself and most of the women on their list who have small children feel for the first time that their kids may not have the same prospects for achievement that they enjoyed.
“To say the least, it has inspired us to speak up in public,” she added.
A group of over 40 former swimmers, including Olympians, a head coach and USA Swimming national team director, and several NCAA winners, presented various concerns about the fairness of allowing trans-athletes to compete alongside women and provided remedies to protect women’s sports.
The letter said, “There are no words to describe the women’s swimming community’s heartache while watching the 2022 NCAA Swim & Dive Championships.”
As the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I swimming, University of Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas took first place in the 500-meter freestyle final in March. She and other former Arizona swimmers decided to unite after Thomas’ victory and speak out “Each of us felt our voices were being ignored. Nobody asked us for our thoughts or suggestions on what was going on.”
“We’re asking the NCAA if we have a voice,” Smith remarked.
First learning to swim at six, Smith says she was instantly hooked on the sport. She competed for the University of Arizona swimming team on a full athletic scholarship and won the NCAA 100-meter backstroke title in 2005.
“That 0.03 of a second margin of victory in her championship meet was the tiniest of margins that swimmers may experience. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to every single centimeter in swimming,” she said.
There has been no official reaction from Mark Emmert of the NCAA to the letter was written by Smith to the organization’s president before this year, the Swimming and Diving Championships.
“The Board of Governors firmly and emphatically supports the ability for transgender student-athletes to compete in collegiate sports,” says Emmert in the written response.
A part of this strategy is based on “growing scientific knowledge” and “sport-specific regulations” of USOC and Paralympic Committee national governing bodies, according to the letter.”
Smith told Fox News that “a policy based in developing science is not a good enough explanation to women athletes as to why a biological guy playing in female sports is fair.”
According to Smith, the group of swimmers is “extremely dubious of the science that the NCAA is utilizing to calculate the criteria that allow a biological male to compete directly with girls.”
She went on to say, “The expertise and knowledge of these ladies are truly unsurpassed. We have decided that the best course of action right now would be to err on the side of fairness across the board, which means that women are not required to lose our championships, records, and scholarships.”
For the topic of transgender inclusivity, she said, “can we give the proposal that males be encouraged to embrace this new class of athletes of any gender into their category?”
And the problem does not stop with the swimming category. This is also happening with the cycling category. According to UK PM Boris Johnson, transgender people should not be allowed to participate in female athletic competitions.
We are already in the 2020s. Everyone, including trans individuals, should be given the same chance to experience the advantages of athletics, and blanket bans of trans persons from participation in sports are inherently unjust.
