NCAA adopts new transgender policy as Lia Thomas controversy brews

The NCAA has adopted new rules within the wake of Lia Thomas, 22, a transgender swimmer on the College of Pennsylvania who has been shattering ladies’s crew data.

Now there might be a sport-by-sport strategy for transgender athletes, bringing the group in keeping with the U.S. and Worldwide Olympic Committees.

Thomas has change into a lightning rod as her story has gained nationwide consideration in current months.

Thomas started competing for the ladies’s crew this season after transitioning. She beforehand competed as a person for 3 seasons at Penn.

The new NCAA rules require Thomas and transgender students-athletes to doc testosterone ranges, which should meet sport-specific ranges, 4 weeks earlier than their sport’s championship picks.

It's unclear when Thomas transitioned from male to feminine. As per NCAA guidelines, at the very least one yr of testosterone suppression therapy is required to have the ability to compete as a girl.

NCAA guidelines on transgender athletes returned to the forefront when Penn swimmer Lia Thomas began smashing data this yr.

Penn Athletics

Document-setting Olympian Michael Phelps and Caityln Jenner are among the many outstanding voices who've weighed in on the scenario.

“I believe this leads again to the organizing committees once more,” Phelps informed CNN this week. “As a result of it needs to be a stage enjoying discipline. That’s one thing that all of us want. As a result of that’s what sports activities are. For me, I don’t know the place that is going to go. I don’t know what’s going to occur.”

“I’ve stated from the start, organic boys shouldn't be enjoying in ladies’s sports activities,” Jenner informed Fox Information. “We have to defend ladies’s sports activities.”

The Board of Governors is suggesting NCAA divisions enable for extra eligibility if a transgender student-athlete loses eligibility primarily based on the coverage change. That flexibility is supplied they meet the NCAA’s new pointers — that are efficient instantly.

“Roughly 80% of U.S. Olympians are both present or former school athletes,” NCAA President Mark Emmert stated in a launch. “This coverage alignment gives consistency and additional strengthens the connection between school sports activities and the U.S. Olympics.”

— With AP