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A father spoke to Fox News on condition of anonymity about the situation currently unfolding on the women’s swimming team at the University of Pennsylvania, which competes in the NCAA’s Ivy League.
Protecting his identity is necessary, he says, because any dissenting opinion could bring “actual physical harm” to his daughter and family.
His daughter, who is a biological female, competes alongside transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
Teammates have come to the “sobering realization” that they “will never make it” to the winner’s podium as long as Lia is still on their team.
“She is most likely going to be representing you and I and all other Americans at the Olympics,” the father said.
The father, who has a medical background, continued, “Part of the reason these little girls get so excited about this is because they see themselves possibly being [at the Olympics].”
“There’s a shot that they can do it if they swim hard enough, if they work hard enough, they got it, they can do it. Anybody can do it.”
“But now what do you say to your daughter? You got Lia up on the blocks, taking a spot from a cisgender woman on the Olympic team,” he continued. “How do I tell my daughter that could be you one day? You can’t. You can never be her.”
“Yes, your daughter can still participate in athletics and reap a lot of the benefits of athletics, but she’ll never be on the podium,” he added.
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“My daughter hates it. She doesn’t think it’s fair,” he said, adding that while his daughter hasn’t personally lost opportunities to compete, “other girls have and will, because the coach is going to take the swimmers that score the most amount of points for the team.”
The dad also wanted to make clear that the criticism isn’t rooted in transphobia or bullying, but in the spirit of protecting fairness in women’s sports.
“All the swimmers like Lia, she’s a wonderful person and very nice,” he said, adding that Thomas has been “nothing but polite” about the situation.
“Lia’s not doing anything against the rules,” he said.
But he said the current focus on testosterone levels is “woefully inadequate” and “shortsighted,” and that there are many different hormonal differences between men and women that must be recognized in sports policy.
— Advertisement — “There are so many other hormones that are different in women and men, just like a protein like collagen,” he said. “Collagen is responsible for strength in tendons and ligaments, and it’s responsible for joint stiffness, it’s responsible for all sorts of things. And men and women have completely different levels of the three major types of collagen. So, even with a testosterone limit, the man is going to have an advantage because of his collagen levels and the types of collagen that he has.”
“Lia is going to go to the NCAA’s and she’s going to take down Katie Ledecky’s record, she’s going to take down Missy Franklin’s record, and it’s not because she is an exceptional woman,” he said. “It’s not because she is the pinnacle of female athletics, which Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin are.”
“It’s a very difficult situation,” he said. “It has not been good for the team. I can’t imagine what it’s doing for recruiting for the future teams.”
