The Trans Movement Just Hit Home.......

[CJD]

(05-04-2023, 01:00 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Musculature and skeletal.  

"During the last season in the NCAA, Lia Thomas competed in the men’s division, in 2018-19. There, she ranked 554th in the 200-yd freestyle, and she is now fifth in the event this year.

Furthermore, in the 500-yd freestyle, Thomas was 65th in the country. Now, she ranked first place in the event this year. Finally, in the 1650 freestyle, she is now eighth in the nation, as opposed to 32nd in the men’s division."


I mean it's really not a question.

If you put me against a woman college swimmer I'd lose the 200 by 100 yds or more.  But male college athlete versus female college athlete  there's an issue.

This was the wikipedia entry of how she performed on the men's team prior to her transition.

Quote:Thomas began swimming on the men's team at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, and during her freshman year, recorded a time of 8 minutes and 57.55 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle that ranked as the sixth-fastest national men's time, as well as 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle times ranked within the national top 100.[5] On the men's swim team in 2018–2019, Thomas finished second in the men's 500, 1,000, and 1,650-yard freestyle at the Ivy League championships as a sophomore in 2019.[5][4][9] During the 2018–2019 season, Thomas recorded the top UPenn men's team times in the 500 free, 1000 free, and 1650 free, but was the sixth best among UPenn men's team members in the 200 free.

Then, she began to transition, which meant taking hormone replacement therapies. A lot of trans women report losing significant strength during hormone therapies (which is why the NCAA allows trans women to compete after a certain period of time on hormone replacement therapies). 

Quote:Thomas lost muscle mass and strength through testosterone suppression and hormone replacement therapy. Her time for the 500 freestyle is over 15 seconds slower than her personal bests before medically transitioning.

Quote:In the 2018–2019 season she was, when competing in the men's team, ranked 554th in the 200 freestyle, 65th in the 500 freestyle, and 32nd in the 1650 freestyle. 

Then they let her compete against women, where she began ranking among the top athletes again.

Quote:In the 2021–2022 season, those ranks are now, when competing in the women's team, fifth in the 200 freestyle, first in the 500 freestyle, and eighth in the 1650 freestyle.

To me, that just seems like this person was an elite athlete prior to transition, went through transition where she lost muscle mass and strength but still was competing against men, obviously struggled because she no longer had the musculature she had prior to transition, and then when they allowed her to compete against women, she was more in line with their times as an elite athlete again.

In other words, the transition did its job to turn her from an elite male athlete to an elite female athlete.

Her skeletal structure obviously remained but, like I said, if a 6'1" trans woman cannot compete because she has a superior skeletal frame, are we banning cis women with similar skeletal structures? Katie Ledecky is 6'0" after all and she is the best cis female swimmer in the world (or at least one of them).

I'm not saying that trans women are definitely not a concern in women's events. But I think Lia Thomas isn't a great example or demonstration of that unfairness, since she was just an amazing swimmer before and after transition.