Martina Navratilova: Lia Thomas wins should have an 'asterisk'
One of first openly lesbian sportswomen condemns rules allowing Thomas to compete against women
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Martina Navratilova, widely considered one of the greatest female tennis players in history, suggested that when transgender swimmers like Lia Thomas win women's races, they should have "an asterisk" by the victory because "the rules are not correct."
Navratilova's comments came after Lia Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania swimmer, won an NCAA national championship race in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday. Thomas had gone through male puberty and previously competed on the men's swimming team. Sixteen of Thomas' teammates wrote a letter claiming that "Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women’s category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female."
LIA THOMAS PICKS UP VICTORY IN 500 FREE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Navratilova, one of the first openly lesbian sportswomen, insisted that the rules allowing Thomas to compete against women are unfair. She proposed a strategy that would not exclude transgender athletes but would prevent male-to-female athletes from claiming victory unfairly.
Martina Navratilova smiles after meeting Britain's Queen Elizabeth at the Queen attends the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London June 24, 2010. (REUTERS/Pool/Oli Scarf )
"It's not about excluding transgender women from winning ever," Navratilova told NewsNation Prime. "But it is about not allowing them to win when they were not anywhere near winning as men."
"You try to keep it as close as possible to what it would had been, were you born in the female biological body in the first place," the tennis star argued. "And even saying that, people take exception to - biological female. People don't even want to use those words. I don't know what else to say. Other than that."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}University of Pennsylvania transgender athlete Lia Thomas swims in a preliminary heat for the 500 meter freestyle at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships Thursday, March 17, 2022, at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
"But the solution perhaps for now is to swim in a lane; you can compete but you don't get the medal," Navratilova suggested.
"Because the rules are not correct. But right now, the rules are what they are," she said. "Maybe put an asterisk there."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Navratilova suggested an "open category" for all athletes, and allowing male-to-female athletes to compete against men.
Pennsylvania's Lia Thomas waits for a preliminary heat in the Women's NCAA 500 meter freestyle swimming championship start Thursday, March 17, 2022, in at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
"And in the future maybe there should be an open category for everyone, and then for biological females," she said. "So trans women can compete, but they'll compete against men.bAnd trans men have a choice."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The NCAA updated its transgender participation policy in January, saying it will be determined on a sport-by-sport basis. If there is no national governing body for the sport, then the NCAA sport will follow the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) policy. USA Swimming released new guidelines emphasizing fairness for cisgender females, but the NCAA later announced that it wouldn't alter its guidance on testosterone, claiming that such a change "could have unfair and potentially detrimental impacts on schools and student-athletes intending to compete in 2022 NCAA women's swimming championships."