Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas says he has no regrets about competing in women’s college swimming, despite widespread backlash, UPenn erasing his records, and public apologies to female athletes who lost titles to him.
In an interview with WHYY, Thomas said he would “do it all over again in a heartbeat,” even after being scrubbed from official record books following President Donald Trump’s 2025 order banning biological males from women’s sports. Thomas became the center of a national controversy in 2021 after dominating NCAA women’s swimming events following his transition from UPenn’s men’s team.
The former college swimmer told the outlet that he still struggles emotionally with the fallout. “With everything that happened my senior year and has happened since, it’s very easy to slip into almost like a negative perception of swimming,” Thomas said. “It takes a lot of effort to try to focus on the joy that swimming still brings me.”
Thomas’ rise in women’s swimming drew criticism from athletes, parents, and women’s sports advocates who said his biological advantage violated the integrity of competition. Despite the outcry, UPenn nominated Thomas for the NCAA “Woman of the Year” award in 2022. That nomination became even more controversial after the university, in 2025, apologized to female swimmers and deleted Thomas’ records in compliance with new federal guidance.
When asked whether he would change anything, Thomas stood firm: “No,” he said. He also shared that his relationship with his parents, initially strained after his transition, has improved. “They parroted a lot of really transphobic talking points… but now, they’re my biggest supporters.”
Thomas also offered advice to other transgender youth: “It’s easier to fight the whole world than to fight yourself every day,” and encouraged them to live as their “authentic self.”
