Trans swimmer Lia Thomas of University of Pennsylvania may not be able to join the Atlanta NCAA championships in March after USA Swimming updated its rules.
Reports revealed that trans swimmer Lia Thomas, formerly known as Will Thomas, may be barred from competing if her testosterone levels don’t pass the requirement.
In the announcement that USA Swimming announced on Tuesday, competitors in women’s events “must have recorded low levels of testosterone for 36 months”. The previous rule “required only one year”.
“At the elite level, a policy has been created for transgender athlete participation in the U.S. that relies on science and medical evidence-based methods to provide a level-playing field for elite cisgender women, and to mitigate the advantages associated with male puberty and physiology.” the announcement read.
“Evidence that the concentration of testosterone in the athlete’s serum has been less than 5 nmol/L (as measured by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry) continuously for a period of at least thirty-six (36) months before the date of application.” the announcement continued.
Moreover, the Mount Sinai Hospital also stated that the normal measurements from a testosterone test are “Male: 300 to 1,000 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL) or 10 to 35 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L)” and “Female: 15 to 70 ng/dL or 0.5 to 2.4 nmol/L.”
Thomas who began “transitioning” in May 2019, won against women during the competition at the University of Akron’s Zippy Invitational, early
December.
