Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas reportedly made an arrogant comment about how "easy" one of her races against female opposition was.
Lia, who used to go by Will Thomas before her transition in 2019, made headlines last week after shattering multiple US women's records at the University of Pennsylvania.
She has copped plenty of backlash on social media from disgruntles sports fans, but has remained humble and even come out to try and explain why she feels she's eligible to compete.
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Now, though, it seems her name is in the spotlight once again, this time for allegedly bragging about winning her races.
Speaking to OutKick, one of Thomas' swimming teammates claimed she she had said: "That was so easy, I was cruising."
The teammate also detailed how fellow competitors would often be left in tears when coming up against Thomas in the pool.
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"They feel so discouraged because no matter how much work they put in it, they're going to lose. Usually, they can get behind the blocks and know they out-trained all their competitors and they're going to win and give it all they've got," she said.
"Now they're having to go behind the blocks knowing no matter what, they do not have the chance to win. I think that it's really getting to everyone.
"Usually everyone claps, everyone is yelling and cheering when someone wins a race. Lia touched the wall and it was just silent in there. When [UPenn swimmer] Anna [Kalandadze] finished second, the crowd erupted in applause."
In a different interview with OutKick, another UPenn teammate came forward and opened up on how many of the swimmers are against Thomas competing.
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"Pretty much everyone individually has spoken to our coaches about not liking this. Our coach [Mike Schnur] just really likes winning. He's like most coaches. I think secretly everyone just knows it's the wrong thing to do," the anonymous female swimmer said.
"When the whole team is together, we have to be like, 'Oh my gosh, go Lia, that's great, you're amazing.' It's very fake."
Having found herself as the hot topic among sports fans across the globe, Thomas recently opened up about why she says competing against women is fair.
"I think the guidelines they set forward are very good and do a very good job of promoting inclusivity while keeping competitional integrity going," she told SwimSwam.
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"Each sport basically has to come up with eligibility criteria for what constitutes an unfair advantage in that sport.
"Everybody is able to compete in the category they're most comfortable with unless there's a proven unfair advantage that they have."
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/Penn Athletics
Topics: transgender athletes, Trans, swimming, Australia, transgender, Lia Thomas