Swimming

“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,” Thomas said.

Lia Thomas became a lightning rod in the debate around transgender athletes’ participation in elite sports.

International sports bodies are grappling with the issue and coming up short.

Lia Thomas was a successful swimmer before coming out and has followed all NCAA guidelines for competing after transitioning. But anti-trans advocates still take issue with her inclusion.

“There have been other Olympic gold medallists since, and my Olympic record will be broken one day, but no one will ever be able to take away the fact I was the first openly gay male Olympic champion.”

“I was kicked off the Stanford swim team,” the NCAA championship swimmer wrote. “I can tell you with certainty that it comes down to the fact that I am gay.”

“People in China don’t know about the games, and this is the first time there has been a direct link between the games and China.”

London’s Transgender And Gender-Nonconforming Swimming group is taking the fear out of swimming.

Rachele Bruni, Italy’s only out LGBTQ Olympian publicly thanked her “beloved,” and told reporters that was her girlfriend.

Thorpe is credited with inspiring superstar Michael Phelps to become the swimmer he is today, and opening doors for other gay athletes.