Lia Thomas competed on the university's men's swim team from 2017 to 2020, and on its women's swim team from 2021 to 2022.
14 Facts About Lia Thomas
2.
Lia Thomas began swimming at the age of five, and was sixth in the state high school swimming championships, competing for Westlake High School.
3.
Lia Thomas graduated in 2022 and plans to attend law school, pursuing a career as a civil rights attorney.
4.
Towards the end of high school, Lia Thomas began to question her gender identity.
5.
Lia Thomas began using her new name on New Year's Day in 2020.
6.
Lia Thomas began swimming on the men's team at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, and during her freshman year, recorded a time of 8 minutes and 57.55 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle that 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.
7.
Lia Thomas 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.
8.
Lia Thomas has followed all of the gender-related policies to be eligible to compete as a woman in NCAA swimming.
9.
Lia Thomas lost muscle mass and strength through testosterone suppression and hormone replacement therapy.
10.
In March 2022, Lia Thomas 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 Lia Thomas.
11.
Lia Thomas did not break any records at the NCAA event, while Kate Douglass broke 18 NCAA records.
12.
Lia Thomas was 9.18 seconds short of Katie Ledecky's NCAA record of 4:24.06.
13.
In 2021, conservative and right-wing media began widely covering Lia Thomas, including Fox News.
14.
The National Women's Law Center, a non-profit organization, defended Lia Thomas, saying that she "deserves all the celebration for her success this season, but instead is being met with nationwide misogyny and transphobia".