Universities reject 'woman of the year' nomination given to Lia Thomas

The trans athlete, who won the freestyle of 500 yards in the Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships earlier this year, had been nominated by UPenn earlier this year. of July.

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Lia Thomas’ nomination for “Woman of the Year” by the University of Pennsylvania was rejected by the other universities of the Ivy League, which brings together the most respected university institutions in the United States.

Lia Thomas, an American transgender athlete who competed in the men’s category for three years before starting to compete in women’s swimming championships, was nominated by her university for the award. “Woman of the Year”, from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), responsible for organizing most of the college sports championships in the USA.

The trans athlete, who won the freestyle of yards in Championship Swimming and Diving in the women’s category earlier this year, had been nominated by UPenn in early July. The award recognizes student athletes who “have excelled in their community, athletics, and academia.”

However, the Ivy League, made up of Penn, Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University, has chosen as its candidate for champion fencing Sylvie Binder of Columbia University/Barnard College. Binder, who hails from Armonk, New York, won the NCAA women’s foil title in 2019 and the bronze medal in 2018 and 2022.

In February, 12 members of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team sent a letter to the institution and the Ivy League in which they wrote: “Thomas jumped from 214 1st place as a man to 1st as women”. The authors of the letter also said that the athlete “could break records” of universities, “which would not be possible in the male category”.