What is the truth about the circulated picture of the transgender swimmer Lia Thomas?
A picture accompanied by a text has been circulated on social media stating "The Olympic Committee excluded Lia Thomas from the women's swimming competition without providing clear reasons for this decision."
The truth:
The circulated picture is fabricated, as the body in the original picture was altered using photo editing software. The original picture is old, from 2019, shows the transgender swimmer (Lia Thomas) during a women's swimming competition in Pennsylvania, USA.
(Lia Thomas) lost a legal case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which barred her from participating in the Paris Olympics.
The player is now banned from swimming in the female category after failing to overturn the rules introduced by the swimming governing body in the summer of 2022, which prohibit anyone who has gone through "any part of male puberty" from the female category.
Therefore, the picture is old and edited, and does not relate to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
A scientific document that the court based its decision on indicated that swimmers like Thomas retained significant physical advantages in endurance, strength, speed, power, and lung size even after reducing their testosterone levels through medication, according to The Guardian.
Thomas described the Court of Arbitration for Sport's decision as:
"Extremely disappointing."
In a statement provided by her legal team, the statement added:
"The blanket ban that prevents transgender women from competing is discriminatory and deprives us of valuable sports opportunities that are essential to our identities."