Lia Thomas Biography

Lia Thomas is an American transgender competitive swimmer. She is renowned for being the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 4:33.24 on 31st March 2022. Previously, she competed on UPenn men’s swim team for three years as Will before transitioning in 2019. In 2021 and 2022, she became part of the public debate about transgender women in sports. According to Sports Illustrated, she has applied for law school and plans to swim at the 2024 Summer Olympics trials. Recently, FINA has voted to make modifications to the rules regarding transgender athletes, prohibiting all women, who were born male, and who transitioned after the age of 12 from competing in the women’s division in all world swimming competitions organized by the governing body. The vote was not closed, as this new policy was approved with 71.4% of approval, which means that, among others, the American swimmer Lia Thomas will no longer be able to compete in the women’s category, in a case that has generated controversy due to the controversial nature of this transgender athlete. 

What is Lia Thomas Famous For?

• Being a transgender competitive swimmer. 
• Being the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle event in March 2022.

Where is Lia Thomas From?

Lia Thomas was born in the year 1998. She is from Austin, Texas, the USA. She holds American nationality and her ethnicity is American-White. Her race is White. She is American when it comes to her nationality and she belongs to the American-White ethnicity. She celebrated her 22nd birthday as of 2022. She has not shared anything about her parent’s details with the media. Only the fact is known that she has an older brother. At the age of 5, she started swimming and when she was in sixth grade in the state high school swimming championships, she competed for Westlake High School. In 2017, she has been attending the University of Pennsylvania. Now, Lia Thomas has finished her college swimming career. 

Source: @dailytelegraph.com.au

Lia Thomas Career Timeline

• Starting in the year 2017, Thomas began swimming on the men’s team at the University of Pennsylvania. 
• There, Thomas recorded a time of 8 minutes and 57.55 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle 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.
• Next, Thomas finished second in the men’s 500, 1,000, and 1,650-yard freestyle at the Ivy League championships as a sophomore in the year 2019.
• Likewise, Thomas recorded the top university men’s team times in the 500 free, 1000 free, and 1650 free in the 2018-2019 season. 
• It was in May 2019, that she began transitioning using hormone replacement therapy, and later, she came out as a trans woman. 
• During the  2018-2019 season, she competed in the men’s team where Thomas ranked 554 in the 200 freestyle, 65 in the 500 freestyle, and 32 in the 1650 freestyle.  
• During a race in January 2022, Thomas finished in 6th place in the 100m freestyle race.
• She became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport in March 2022, after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:33.24; Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant was second with a time 1.75 seconds behind Thomas. 
• In the preliminaries for the 200 freestyle, Thomas finished second. 
• In the final for the 200 freestyle, Thomas placed fifth with a time of 1:43.50. 
• In the preliminaries for the 100 freestyle, Thomas finished tenth. 
• In the finals for the 100 freestyle, Thomas placed eighth out of eight competitors in 48.18 seconds, finishing last. 
• Her last college swimming event was the March 2022 NCAA championship. 
• As per Sports Illustrated, she has applied for law school and plans to swim at the 2024 Summer Olympics trials.
• On January 10, 2022, the article, The Washington Post wrote, “Thomas has shattered school records and has posted the fastest times of any female college swimmer in two events this season. She’ll probably be a favorite at the NCAA championships in March, even as people inside and outside the sport debate her place on the pool deck.”
• In a May 2022 interview with Good Morning America, Thomas defended herself from criticism, saying that “I intend to keep swimming”, and that “It’s been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through.”
• In June 2022, the International Swimming Federation (FINA), an organization that administers international aquatic sports competitions, voted to bar all transgender athletes from competing in professional women’s swimming, with the exception of athletes who “can establish to FINA’s comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 (of puberty) or before age 12, whichever is later”, effectively barring Thomas from competing in the women’s competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Know More About Lia Thomas

How much is Lia Thomas Net Worth?

Lia Thomas is a talented swimmer whose net worth is believed to have $200K as of 2022. Her main source of wealth comes from her swimming career. Today, she is living a fancy lifestyle from her earnings. She is one of the richest and most influential swimmers in the United States. 

Who is Lia Thomas Dating?

Lia Thomas is not married yet and she is still to get married yet. She is currently single and she is not in a relationship with anyone at present. She has not been in affairs till now. Previously, when she was a man, she does not have a girlfriend. It seems she is currently focusing on her career. Her sexuality is transgender. 

How tall is Lia Thomas?

Lia Thomas is a charming lady. Her body type is athletic. height of 6 feet 1 inch. Her body weight consists of 65 KG. She has attractive dark brown eyes and her hair color is blonde. Her body measurement is 32-24-32 in. She maintains her body a lot by doing frequent exercise. 

Lia Thomas Surgery

Lia Thomas is transgender when it comes to her sexuality. She was born as a guy and subsequently opted to have gender reassignment surgery. She transitioned surgically to a girl. Back then, when she was a boy, she competed as Will Thomas for three years. “Being trans hasn’t hindered her ability to conduct this activity,” she explained in an interview, “and her being able to continue really rewarding”. She is honored to represent the LGBTQ community on the sports field. She began transitioning using hormone replacement therapy in May 2019 and came out as a trans woman during her junior year to her coaches, friends, and the women’s and men’s swim teams at the University of Pennsylvania. She lost muscle mass and strength through testosterone suppression and hormone replacement therapy.