{"id":1221635,"date":"2022-01-18T09:52:46","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T14:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1221635"},"modified":"2022-01-18T09:52:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T14:52:48","slug":"michael-phelps-on-trans-swimmer-lia-thomas-it-has-to-be-a-level-playing-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michael-phelps-on-trans-swimmer-lia-thomas-it-has-to-be-a-level-playing-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Phelps on Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas: &#039;It Has to be a Level Playing Field&#039;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmichael-phelps-on-trans-swimmer-lia-thomas-it-has-to-be-a-level-playing-field%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1221635&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Lia-Thompson-Penn-Athletics-Facebook-640x335-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps has refused to say whether or not biological males should be allowed to compete in women\u2019s sports, arguing that the situation is \u201ccomplicated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking CNN\u2019s Christiane Amanpour, the decorated athlete addressed the controversy surrounding transgender UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, a man living as a woman. Phelps said that the authorities will need to develop rules that make the competition an \u201ceven playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI can talk from the standpoint of doping,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/its-complicated-michael-phelps-reacts-to-lia-thomas-transgender-swimmer-controversy\/\">Phelps said<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve competed in a clean field in my entire career. So, I think this leads back to the Organising Committees again because it has to be a level playing field. I think that\u2019s something that we all need.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know where this is going to go. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen. I believe that we all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin,\u201d he added. \u201cBut I think sports should all be played on an even playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Phelps said the future of women\u2019s sports will be \u201cvery complicated\u201d while refusing to make a declarative statement.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what that looks like in the future. But it\u2019s hard. It\u2019s very complicated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is my sport. This has been my sport my whole entire career. Honestly, the one thing I would love is everybody to be able to compete on an even playing field. That\u2019s all I can say,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Reacting to ongoing debate over trans college athlete Lia Thomas competing on the women\u2019s swimming team, \u201cit\u2019s very complicated,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MichaelPhelps?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MichaelPhelps<\/a>. \u201cWe all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin. But I think sports should be played on an even playing field.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/brsq7t2vJW\">pic.twitter.com\/brsq7t2vJW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/amanpour\/status\/1481699475441819652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 13, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Lia Thomas, who previously&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/pennathletics.com\/sports\/mens-swimming-and-diving\/roster\/will-thomas\/14590\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">competed<\/a>&nbsp;for the UPenn men\u2019s team for three seasons as Will Thomas, became a controversial figure late last year when he dominated the competition at the&nbsp;Akron Zippy Invitational, smashing university records and pool records when he&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.outkick.com\/transgender-penn-swimmer-lia-thomas-smashes-more-records-at-akron-event-ncaa-titles-appear-certain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">won<\/a>&nbsp;the 1650 race by a whopping 38 seconds over his teammate.<\/p>\n<p>Some female swimmers lamented that Thomas began&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/sports\/2021\/12\/13\/so-easy-i-was-cruising-trans-upenn-swimmer-bragged-about-beating-female-opponents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">boasting&nbsp;<\/a>about the ease of his victory following the competition.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThat was so easy, I was cruising,\u201d a female swimmer reported Thomas as saying. \u201cAt least I\u2019m still No. 1 in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Parents and several athletes protested that Lia Thomas had an unfair advantage and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/sports\/2021\/12\/16\/upenn-parents-plead-ncaa-change-rules-after-trans-swimmer-dominates-women\/\">demanded<\/a>&nbsp;that the NCAA put a stop to it. Late last month, one swimming official&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/sports\/2021\/12\/24\/i-cant-support-this-usa-swimming-official-resigns-in-protest-of-trans-swimmer\/\">even publicly quit<\/a>&nbsp;in protest.<\/p>\n<p>Though the NCAA has largely backed Lia Thomas and transgender athletes in general throughout the controversy, the organization\u2019s board of governors will convene this Thursday to discuss the current policy, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/swimswam.com\/ncaa-board-to-discuss-transgender-participation-policy-at-january-20-meeting\/\">SwimSwam.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Board of Governors cannot directly enact legislation, but can provide guidance and recommend legislation to each division, where it is reviewed in the divisions\u2019 legislative processes,\u201d noted the outlet.<\/p>\n<p>The upcoming meeting comes after the&nbsp;American Swimming Coaches Association <a href=\"https:\/\/swimmingcoach.org\/\">called on the<\/a> NCAA to review its current policy on transgender athletes.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The American Swimming Coaches Association urges the NCAA and all governing bodies to work quickly to update their policies and rules to maintain fair competition in the women\u2019s category of swimming. ASCA supports following all available science and evidenced-based research in setting the new policies, and we strongly advocate for more research to be conducted.<\/p>\n<p>ASCA embraces and encourages diversity and believes all people should have the opportunity to participate in swimming. Transgender people belong in our sport and have every right to compete, and at the same time cisgender females have a right to a category of competition that is fair and meaningful.<\/p>\n<p>The current NCAA policy regarding when transgender females can compete in the women\u2019s category can be unfair to cisgender females and needs to be reviewed and changed in a transparent manner.<\/p>\n<p>The discrimination and disrespect that has erupted as a result of this conversation has no place in our sport or in society. We strongly reject the criticism of the athletes and coaches who are merely following the rules.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Both UPenn Athletics and the Ivy League have voiced support for Lia Thomas.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Ivy League releases the following statement of support regarding Penn&#8217;s Lia Thomas&#8217; participation on the women&#8217;s swimming and diving team. \ud83c\udf3f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wdEDW4ud5O\">pic.twitter.com\/wdEDW4ud5O<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Ivy League (@IvyLeague) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IvyLeague\/status\/1479165876007886852?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 6, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Statement regarding our women\u2019s swimmer, Lia Thomas. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FightOnPenn?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FightOnPenn<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lvrnBbfeEr\">pic.twitter.com\/lvrnBbfeEr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Penn Quakers (@pennathletics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pennathletics\/status\/1479165903652675598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 6, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps has refused to say whether or not biological males should be allowed to compete in women\u2019s sports, arguing that the situation is \u201ccomplicated.\u201d Speaking CNN\u2019s &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1221635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1221635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1221635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1221635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1221635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}