In typical circumstances, a swimmer winning the 500-yard freestyle title at the women’s NCAA championships in 4min 33.24sec would not be headline news. There was nothing particularly alarming about the time given that five years ago, Katie Ledecky had finished the race nine seconds faster. However this time the winner was Lia Thomas, a trans woman who used to compete for the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s team.
The McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia, became the latest frontier in the culture wars over the inclusion of trans athletes in women’s sport. Thomas raced for the men’s team for her university for three years, finishing runner-up at the Ivy League championships over 500, 1,000 and 1,650 yards three years ago.
Thomas began taking spironolactone as part