The True Winner
March 23, 2022
Throughout history we have grown to accept people, and have grown to be ok with people’s differences. But is it too far when accepting people affects others?
Lia Thomas goes to Penn State and is transgender. She competed as a guy in this division in 2019, and came back a year later to compete as a woman. She smashed many records that may never be touched by a natural born woman again. How is this fair for the other athletes?
Lia Thomas won the 500 meter NCAA championship, but did she actually deserve it? Many people are arguing that she does not deserve this title and how it was unfair for the athletes, especially 2nd place, Emma Weyant. The crowd booed as Lia Thomas was given the gold medal. Lia Thomas went from being the 554th man in this event to being the first woman, how can anyone say that is ok. The first source states “As far as I’m concerned there’s a very simple solution to this quagmire: Trans athletes need to be told in no uncertain terms they cannot compete outside their biological sex.” (Wootton). Many people are affected by this rule, and maybe the world needs to come to the conclusion that they can’t make it “fair” or they can’t always sacrifice people’s feelings. Emma Weyeant was the true gold winner, and she will even say this herself. She fought her way up as a woman swimmer, and she does not need her spotlight taken away by an unfair advantage.
The source also says “All sports women make huge sacrifices to their way of life, after all. Going forward, anyone in the same position as Lia must accept their transition needs to be delayed until AFTER their competitive sporting career, with rules ensuring all athletes must compete in their biological sex at birth, regardless of the sport or the competition.” (Wootton). Explaining that all athletes agree with the fact that Lia Thomas should be competing as a man, because that is what she was born.
Therefore rules need to be changed, and even though you want to accept maybe this is not the right place. Emma Weyant should and is a gold medalist no matter what the results actually show.
