The inside story of Lia Thomas, the banned trans swimmer who once competed as ‘Will’ – but left team-mates uncomfortable and has now been BANNED from the Olympics

Depending on who you ask, former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas is a threat to women’s sports, an inspiration to marginalized trans athletes, or a mere talking point for those using the 25-year-old as some sort of political football.

One thing she’s not: an Olympian.

Thomas was banned from competing in elite women’s races earlier this month by The Court of Arbitration for Sport panel, which ruled that she was ineligible to challenge World Aquatics policy on trans athletes.

Recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the sport’s governing body, World Aquatics set a high bar in 2022 by requiring trans competitors to complete their transition before age 12 in order to be able to swim in the women’s division. And since Thomas was already a college student at Penn by the time she transitioned in 2019, this ruling precludes her from participating in the 2024 Paris Games this summer.

But while many are celebrating this outcome, few believe it’s the final word on the subject of trans women in sports. Now, with Thomas’ swimming future in question, DailyMail.com looks back on her life and career, which has divided athletes and parents across amateur and professional sports, the swimming world, and even her own team.

Lia Thomas reacts after finishing tied for 5th in the 200 Freestyle at the 2022 NCAA finals

Thomas smiles after winning the 500 freestyle at the 2022 Ivy League championships

Growing up in Austin, Texas, Thomas began swimming at age 5 and only got better with the passing years.

At Westlake High School, which produced Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Drew Brees and Nick Foles, Thomas earned a sixth-place finish among teenage boys at the Texas state championships.

Colleges quickly took notice.

Thomas ultimately followed her brother to Penn’s swim team, where she began focusing on distance races – and her growing unease with her own body.

She’d already begun questioning her gender in high school, but those feelings only intensified at the Ivy League college in Philadelphia.

Of course, nobody would have guessed there was a problem judging by Thomas’ results. Although critic and former rival Riley Gaines has characterized Thomas a ‘mediocre male athlete,’ the Austin native’s career bio tells a different story.

While competing under her birth name, Will, Thomas recorded the sixth-fastest national time in the men’s 1,000-yard freestyle in 2017 (57.55 seconds), and had several other impressive performances in the 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle.

Thomas was even better the following year, finishing second at the Ivy League Championships in the men’s 500 freestyle, 1,000 freestyle and 1,650 freestyle.

But although Thomas was still racing as a man in the spring 2019, she was already beginning to identify as a woman. In fact, Thomas came out to her family as transgender a year earlier, in the summer of 2018.

As she told Sports Illustrated in 2022, Thomas initially put off hormone replacement therapy (HRT) fearing that it would interfere with swimming. Even when she began the treatments in May of 2019, Thomas knew her career in the pool was in jeopardy.

‘I did HRT knowing and accepting I might not swim again,’ Thomas told SI. ‘I was just trying to live my life.’

Lia Thomas accepts the winning trophy for the 500 Freestyle finals as second place finisher Emma Weyant and third place finisher Erica Sullivan watch in March of 2022

Members of Young Women For America protest transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in 2022

Counter-protestors gather to support transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 17th, 2022

But while the treatments were a slow process, the results were undeniable for Thomas, whose unease over her gender dysphoria began to subside.

‘It surprised me,’ Thomas said of her transition. ‘I felt, mentally, a lot better and healthier pretty quickly. The relief it gave me was quite substantial.’

To Thomas, transitioning was the right answer. Not only was she comfortable with her new body, but her family, friends, teammates and coaches remained largely supportive of her decision.

She was still competing as a man in 2019-20, occasionally wearing a women’s swimsuit, but her times suffered dramatically due to the HRT treatment. Ultimately Thomas raced in only four of eight regular-season events that year, and outside of a win in the 500 freestyle against Villanova, was a non factor for the Quakers.

With her testosterone levels dropping, Thomas decided to move to the women’s division, not just for herself, but for other trans athletes facing the same obstacles.

‘I just want to show trans kids and younger trans athletes that they’re not alone,’ Thomas told SI. ‘They don’t have to choose between who they are and the sport they love.’

There was, of course, some pushback.

Thomas alongside Kentucky’s Riley Gaines after both tied for fifth at the NCAA championships

Even LGBTQ+ icon Martina Navratilova took issue with the trans swimmer, reposting a DailyMail.com article on Twitter and writing: ‘It is not fair for women to race against transgender Lia Thomas.’

At the time, the NCAA was requiring transgender women to go through one year of HRT treatment before being able to compete in women’s sports, and Thomas coordinated with both Penn and NCAA officials to ensure that she remained compliant.

Those policies quickly became more complicated.

In January of 2022, the NCAA announced it would defer to the rules of each sport’s governing body when it came to trans athletes in women’s sports. USA Swimming followed by updating its own criteria, requiring trans women to have minuscule testosterone levels for 36 months in order to compete in the women’s division.

Regardless, Thomas remained eligible while posting the best 200-meter freestyle time in the country as the NCAA was beginning its own transition from the imperial to the metric system.

In one race, she beat the nearest competitor by 40 seconds.

The national media soon became fixated. As a result, her final home meet in Philadelphia required additional media seating as national and international news outlets hashed out the growing controversy.