Paris Olympics 2024: Here's why transgender athlete Nikki Hiltz is part of Team USA and not Lia Thomas

PARIS, FRANCE: The Paris Olympics 2024 has officially kicked off with thousands of participants competing to attain the ultimate glory. 

The Olympics taking place in the French capital city is being hailed for multiple reasons, with one being the equal participation of male and female athletes. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has even gone to the extent of saying that this year’s game is marking a historic first, per Daily Mail. 

However, for the past few years, there has been a raging debate regarding the participation of transgender athletes in the games. It was highlighted again recently when one of the US athletes, Nikki Hiltz, was cleared to represent the nation in the Olympics whereas American swimmer Lia Thomas was not. 

It leads to a raging question: Why have two transgender athletes been handed two different verdicts regarding participation?

Nikki Hiltz is participating in track and field sports

Nikki Hiltz is one of the very few transgender participants in the Paris Olympics. However, Hiltz was assigned the female gender at birth but identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns they/them. 

The 29-year-old California native is currently representing the country in the women’s 1,500m at Paris 2024.

In 2021, Hiltz came out as transgender non-binary when they explained her gender identity through a candid Instagram post. 

At that time, Hiltz wrote on Instagram, “Hi I’m Nikki and I’m transgender. That means I don’t identify with the gender I was assigned at birth. The word I use currently to describe my gender is non-binary.”

They explained, “The best way I can explain my gender is as fluid. Sometimes I wake up feeling like a powerful queen and other days I wake up feeling as if I’m just a guy being a dude, and other times I identify outside of the gender binary entirely.”

“It’s complicated and complex and something I’m still trying to navigate myself, but I’ve decided it’s time to share my gender fluidity with you all,” added the track and field athlete. 

Last month, the athlete qualified for the Olympic Games while setting a US trials record of 3 minutes and 55.53. 

After their record-breaking performance, Hiltz told NBC Sports, “I literally can't believe it. I mean, this is bigger than me,” before adding, “It's the last day of Pride month. I wanted to run this one for my community, and yeah, all the LGBTQ folks. You guys brought me home that last hundred. I could just feel the love and support.”

During the mid-2000s, the athlete competed at Oregon and Arkansas at the collegiate level and garnered All-American honors in 2018.

Previously, Hiltz won a silver medal in the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, and gold in the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Lia Thomas not allowed to compete in the Olympics

American swimmer, Lia Thomas, on the other hand, was not allowed to participate in the Olympics citing the change of regulations across several verticals. 

The 25-year-old swimmer created headlines initially in March 2022 after winning the women’s NCAA college swimming title. Through this title, Thomas became the first trans-athlete to win the most prestigious college honor in the country. 

Soon after her win, however, World Aquatics (WA) introduced a rule that prevented any athlete who underwent “any part of male puberty” from competing in the women’s games, per Daily Mail.

At that time, Thomas -- who competed in Pennsylvania’s men’s team for three seasons, before starting a hormone replacement procedure in early 2019 and joining the women's team in 2021 -- opposed the ruling and asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to overturn the rules.

The same rules, nevertheless, allowed an athlete to compete in an “open” category. 

Nevertheless, a ruling by a CAS panel in June 2024, however, dashed the hopes of the swimmer to compete in the Olympics, citing “technicality.”

The panel dismissed Thomas' request for arbitration with the World Aquatics governing body saying that Thomas was “simply not entitled to engage with eligibility to compete in WA competitions such as the Olympics or world championships” as she was no longer a part of US swimming. 

Even though there wasn’t any mention of gender for Thomas getting banned from participating in the Olympics, the swimmer was left dissatisfied with the verdict. 

Later, she added a statement via AP, saying, “Blanket bans preventing trans women from competing are discriminatory and deprive us of valuable athletic opportunities that are central to our identities.”

Nikki Hiltz and Lia Thomas' situations spark online debate

Netizens were left divided at Nikki Hiltz's participation in the Paris Olympics. While some of the social media users called for a separate competition for transgender athletes, another group upheld Hitlz's right to participate as a female as she was designated the female gender at birth.

One of the disgruntled social media users commented on Facebook, "Why they don't do a separate one for them? It's unfair!"

However, someone else clarified, "She was born as a FEMALE and compete’s against FEMALES… why on Earth would ANYONE have a problem with that? All the hate in these comments, even if you disagree doesn’t need you have to be a tool!"

Someone else said in the same vein, "In this case she is a female (whatever she is identifying as at the moment) so fair enough."

Another user, however, recommended, "It's time to introduce transgeder sports."

"Identify as whatever you like.. Your genetics should depict what team you're on," commented someone else regarding the selection process of male and femal teams.

Someone else chimed in, "Because for all intents and purposes this person is a biological female competing as a biological female. They just need to come up with a pronoun that makes sense. I propose a zem or zim."

"Because her testosterone level didn't exceed the limits that the Olympics goes by. At the United States would adapt this policy we wouldn't have no problem with transgender athletes either," explained another user.

Someone else explained the difference between the two athletes, "This woman is competing as a woman. That’s why she gets to compete. Lia Thomas is a guy that was trying to compete as a woman. THAT is the difference."

Another user added, "She's not transgender. She was born a female. She just wants to be called something else for attention 🙄."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online