Ahead of the Olympics, Lia Thomas’s challenge in an international court to access all-women’s sports in elite competitions has been declined.
An international court that arbitrates disputes in elite sports has ruled against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in a legal challenge to rules preventing female-identifying mature males from competing in women’s events.
The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday dismissed Lia Thomas’s January request to overturn a June 2022 decision by World Aquatics to ban transgender swimmers who have been through male puberty from competing in elite women’s races.
Before the World Aquatics decision, female-identifying male athletes could compete as long as they lowered their testosterone levels. But the organization changed course after a scientific panel found that, even after taking medication that lowered testosterone, male competitors still had a significant advantage over women.
Lia Thomas challenged that rule change, asking CAS to overturn it on the premise that it was illegitimate, unlawful, and discriminatory; that it went against the Olympic charter, the World Aquatics constitution; and that it violated international norms on human rights and non-discrimination protections for women.
But the CAS court disagreed, dashing Lia Thomas’s hopes to make next month’s Paris Olympics.
In a decision issued on Wednesday, the arbitration panel cited lack of standing, saying that Lia Thomas had no grounds to sue World Aquatics’ transgender policy because the athlete was no longer a member of USA Swimming and had not been registered to participate in any World Aquatics international competitions.
Carlos Sayao, an attorney who represented Lia Thomas in the proceeding, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
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World Aquatics released a statement welcoming the CAS decision.
“World Aquatics is dedicated to fostering an environment that promotes fairness, respect, and equal opportunities for athletes of all genders and we reaffirm this pledge,” the body said in the statement, which was provided to some media outlets. “Our policies and practices are continuously evaluated to ensure they align with these core values, which led to the introduction of our open category.”
By Tom Ozimek
