Swimming

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.

Speedos apparently don’t mix well with NBC’s graphics.

“Having the words ‘gay and lesbian’ over my butt is my way of announcing my queerness for the swimming world to see.”

It’s a reversal of fortune for Britain’s gay champion diver, who was given prominent coverage over his straight swimming partner.

The Harvard freshman was recruited to swim on the school’s women’s team. But next season, he’ll swim for the men’s team after his transition, becoming the first openly transgender collegiate swimmer in U.S. history.

Australian Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe comes out as gay in a television interview airing Sunday evening in Australia, reports the Daily Telegraph. Thorpe’s announcement follows more than a decade of denials — the first of which came just as his career skyrocketed at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, when he was just 15.

KEY WEST, Fla. — With her lips and tongue swollen, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad edged closer to Florida on Monday in her attempt to become the first person to swim the treacherous waters from Cuba to Key West without a shark cage.