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Riley Gaines, who tied Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete, alleged that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) told her that Thomas would be photographed with the fifth place trophy at the Atlanta championships and that she could pose with the sixth place trophy. This despite the fact that they both came in the same place in the competition.
This is Riley Gaines, a swimmer from the University of Kentucky, who explained on Fox News that when she asked an NCAA official about that decision, she was told that they would go in chronological order of winners and that it had been established that in the event of a tie between her and Thomas, the transgender swimmer would be given fifth place, even though she received the same score as Gaines.
“We tied. What are we being chronological about?” asked Gaines to the official. To which he replied, “we’re just going to give the trophy to Lia: We respect and admire your swim, but Lia needs to hold the trophy.”
“It’s not fair,” says swimmer who got the same place as Lia Thomas
Riley Gaines said she doesn’t think the move is fair and maintained that other swimmers have advised her not to speak out so there won’t be repercussions for her career. “I’m fortunate enough to where I have such an amazing support system at the University of Kentucky … I know I can’t speak for everyone, but I am almost certain I’m speaking for a large majority of female athletes: This is not OK, and it’s not fair,” she stressed.
She added: “I think there’s a difference between your sex and your gender identity, and so I think that it’s just been totally misconstrued and lost (…) It’s finally gotten to the point where it’s being shown and it’s completely violating women and women’s rights, especially in sports.”
Faced with Gaines’ account, the host conducting the interview, Tucker Carlson, commented that the change showed that the NCAA is openly promoting “biological males over biological females in a women’s event.”
