Doctors have confirmed that transgender athlete Lia Thomas has an unfair advantage over biological women, even after taking testosterone suppressants.
The advantage was confirmed to the New York Times in an interview with a Mayo Clinic doctor and an international physiologist who consults on the sports, according to Daily Mail.
Michael J. Joyner, the Mayo Clinic doctor, said “There are social aspects to sport, but physiology and biology underpin it. Testosterone is the 800-pound gorilla”.
Despite taking testosterone suppressants, which are required by the N.C.A.A., Thomas still has an unfair advantage compared to biological female athletes.
Dr. Ross Tucker, a sports physiologist, noted “Lia Thomas is the manifestation of the scientific evidence. The reduction in testosterone did not remove her biological advantage”.
Thomas, who once swam as a male athlete, reportedly began transitioning from male to female when she was 19.
As a female athlete, Thomas has been able to break records in swimming competitions, which she was not doing as a male swimmer.
Many of Thomas’ teammates are frustrated with the disadvantage but are too afraid to speak publicly about it.
One of the teammates revealed in a Times article that “she had been rejected from a social eating club at Princeton because she had branded ‘transphobic’ for questioning Lia’s place in the sport,” reported Daily Mail.
In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, she defended herself, saying “I am a woman, just like anybody else on the team. I’ve always viewed myself as just a swimmer”.
“It’s what I’ve done for so long; it’s what I love,” Thomas added.