American swimmer Leah Thomas, who gained global fame in March 2022 when she became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA collegiate championship, has lost her lawsuit against World Aquatics at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, ending her hopes of competing in next month’s Paris Olympics.
The 25-year-old also remains barred from swimming in the women’s division after failing to overturn a rule introduced by swimming’s governing body in the summer of 2022 banning “anyone who has undergone male puberty” from competing in the women’s division.
Thomas had argued that the rules were contrary to the Olympic Charter and World Aquatics Charter and should be declared “invalid and illegal”.
But in a 24-page ruling, the court concluded that Mr Thomas was no longer a member of USA Swimming and was therefore “ineligible to compete in competitions in Western Australia”.
The news was welcomed by World Aquatics, which hailed it as “a major step forward in our efforts to protect women’s sport.”
“World Aquatics is committed to fostering an environment that promotes fairness, respect and equal opportunities for athletes of all genders and reaffirms this commitment,” it added.
World Aquatics introduced the new rule after Thomas won the NCAA gold medal in the women’s 500-yard freestyle in 2022, beating Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant by 1.75 seconds.
In the scientific documents that supported its decision, the committee said swimmers like Thomas maintain the significant physical advantages in endurance, power, speed, strength and lung capacity that come from going through male puberty, even after using medication to lower their male hormone levels.
World Aquatics is understood to have been prepared to argue the value of scientific evidence at CAS, but the hearing focused solely on whether Thomas, who is no longer a member of USA Swimming, would be allowed to challenge the federation’s rules.
On Wednesday, the committee ruled that Thomas had no right to challenge World Aquatics’ transgender policy, stating in a key passage: “The committee concludes that the athlete is not eligible to compete in ‘elite competition’ within the meaning of USA Swimming’s policy, much less to compete in the Western Australian events at the time of achieving the performance that would lead to her registration in Western Australia and her application for a Western Australian world record, and therefore is therefore entirely ineligible to contest eligibility to compete in the Western Australian events.”
“The policy and operational requirements are not triggered by her current situation.”
World Aquatics claims it strives to be as inclusive as possible and has introduced an “open” category for transgender swimmers. However, it was due to debut the category at the Berlin World Cup last October but it was cancelled after there were no entries for either the 50m or 100m races, which were due to run alongside the men’s and women’s races.
