On Tucker Carlson Tonight on Wednesday, University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines discussed how the NCAA just snubbed her. The collegiate athletic organization prioritized awarding a trophy to male swimmer Lia Thomas over her, an actual woman.
Gaines and Thomas had tied for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle event at the NCAA swimming championships last month. With only one trophy available the day of the meet, the NCAA told Gaines that Lia had to get the trophy the day of the race; they would send Gaines’s trophy in the mail. It was a disgraceful example of how the NCAA prioritizes propaganda over female athletes.
“Once we finished the race,” she said, “I went behind the podium to collect my fifth-place trophy and was plainly told that Lia would hold the fifth-place trophy, and then I could pose with the sixth-place one for photos and that a fifth-place trophy would be sent in the mail.”
“When I kind of questioned it, I asked them, ‘Is there a reason why you’re giving Lia the trophy?’ He just explained to me that ‘we’re just giving it in chronological order,’” Gaines said. “And I questioned him again, ‘What does that mean? We tied. What are we being chronological about?’” Gaines said. “And he kind of blatantly said, ‘We’re just going to give the trophy to Lia. We respect and admire your swim, but Lia needs to hold the trophy.’”
Had the NCAA truly cared about diversity, equity, and, more importantly, the female athletes who are supposed to be given equal opportunities under Title IX, it would have given Gaines the trophy, if for no other reason than that Lia Thomas had already won another event and Riley Gaines hadn’t. If not for the desire to show how woke the NCAA is, it would have made sense to give Gaines the trophy and mail Lia’s. Instead, the NCAA showed Riley Gaines just what it really thinks of equity for women.
Lia didn’t need to hold the trophy, but the NCAA wanted to make sure Lia was the one pictured with it. It wanted to parade Lia around to show how inclusive the organization is — despite it actively taking measures to exclude actual women in women’s swimming. It was a political stunt meant to win favor from the rabid gender ideologues. As during this last swimming season, the one who suffered from the NCAA’s political agenda was another woman.
