The NCAA announced [February 10] that it will not change its eligibility policies for transgender athletes ahead of the women’s swimming and diving championships, officially clearing the way for transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas to compete.
The agency’s Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports met this week and recommended to the NCAA’s board of governors not to adopt the latest USA Swimming policy, which requires trans women swimmers to undergo at least 36 months of hormone therapy and provide evidence to a panel proving that they do not have a competitive advantage from being assigned male at birth.
That policy, released earlier this month, would have barred Thomas — a 22-year-old freestyle swimmer who currently holds the nation’s top times this year in two events — from competing, as she has been on hormone therapy for about 33 months.
“The subcommittee decided implementing additional changes at this time could have unfair and potentially detrimental impacts on schools and student-athletes intending to compete in 2022 NCAA women’s swimming championships,” the NCAA said in a statement.
The announcement also comes on the heels of a letter sent [February 10] to the NCAA urging it to not adopt the policy, signed by 310 current and former collegiate swimmers.
