Paula Scanlan demands apology from trans swimmer Lia Thomas claiming she was 'forced to undress with him'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: US swimmer Lia Thomas, 25, would not be permitted to compete in the Olympic Games after she lost her legal battle to have the rules barring her participation overturned. 

Following Wednesday’s ruling, one of Thomas’s former teammates from the University of Pennsylvania, Paula Scanlan has lashed out at the transgender swimmer. Scanlan welcomed the news while claiming the women athletes deserve an apology for being “forced to undress” in front of the athlete. 

Lia Thomas getting barred from Olympic participation inspires Paula Scanlan to speak up

Thomas created headlines first in March 2022 after winning the women’s NCAA college swimming title. With the win, Thomas became the first trans-athlete to win the most prestigious college title in the country. 

However, soon after the win, 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.

Thomas, who was a part of Pennsylvania’s men’s team for three seasons, before starting hormone replacement procedure in early 2019 and joining women's team in 2021, vehemently opposed the ruling and asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the rules.

The 2022 rules, though barred trans-athletes from participating in the women’s games, allowed them to compete in an “open” category.  

On Wednesday, the CAS panel, however, dismissed Thomas' request for arbitration with the World Aquatics governing body citing “technicality.”

The committee said 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. 

The verdict dashed the 25-year-old’s aspirations to compete at the upcoming Olympic Games. Dissatisfied with the verdict, Thomas said in a statement via AP, “Blanket bans preventing trans women from competing are discriminatory and deprive us of valuable athletic opportunities that are central to our identities.”

Meanwhile, Thomas’s former teammate Paula Scanlan welcomed the news as she took to her social media and demanded an apology. 

She wrote, “Okay, but is anyone going to apologize for forcing us to undress with him 18 times a week?”

This is not the first time that Scanlan opened up about transgender issues in women’s sports. Last week, as she was testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, she put forward the issues of women’s physical safety in sports. 

Scanlan previously confessed she had “nightmares for weeks” after she had to share changing rooms with trans-athletes and demanded women-only spaces like locker rooms. 

She claimed to have had a traumatizing experience in the bathroom when she was a 16-year-old and suffered sexual assault. 

In an interview with the New York Post, she shared, “In general, bathrooms were a place I felt really uncomfortable. I would just kind of relive the situation that I went through when I was 16.”

Scanlan shared, “I would be at my locker and then all of a sudden hear a masculine voice, and I would just jump. 'I was like, 'Oh my gosh, somebody got in here'. It's incredibly vulnerable. I had nightmares for weeks about men being there while we were dressing.”

Lia Thomas faces online slamming

Social media users slammed Lia Thomas for the allegations brought forward by the former teammate.

One of the social media users said on Facebook, "No one has the right to make others feel unsafe or uncomfortable because of their own delusions! She deserves an apology."

Someone else wrote, "I still can’t believe this is real..the end has to be near!"

Another netizen wrote, "No one has the right to make others feel unsafe or uncomfortable because of their own delusions! She deserves an apology."

"Absolutely outrageous, apology def deserved," said another user.

"She needs more than a apology this should never been allowed to happen," said another outraged user.

"I make a motion, The lnternational Olympic Committee must make a stand on these issues. It ends here," declared exasperated user. 

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.