Transgender Swimmer Loses Bid to Overturn Ban on Men in Elite Women’s Sports

Ahead of the Olympics, Lia Thomas’s challenge in an international court to access all-women’s sports in elite competitions has been declined.

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas looks on after winning the 200 yard freestyle during the 2022 Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at Blodgett Pool in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb. 18, 2022. Kathryn Riley/Getty Images

An international court that arbitrates disputes in elite sports has ruled against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in a legal challenge to rules preventing female-identifying mature males from competing in women’s events.

The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on June 10 dismissed Lia Thomas’s January request to overturn a June 2022 decision by World Aquatics to ban transgender swimmers who have been through male puberty from competing in elite women’s races.