A member of the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s swim team claimed her transgender teammate, Lia Thomas, deliberately lost a race to a transgender competitor, OutKick reported Wednesday.
The swimmer — who did not disclose her identity to OutKick for fear of reprisal — said Thomas, a biological male, conspired with transgender Yale swimmer Iszac Henig, a biological female, prior to a tri-meet between Penn, Yale and Dartmouth, the outlet reported.
“Looking at [Lia’s] time, I don’t think she was trying. I know they’re friends and I know they were talking before the meet. I think she let her win to prove the point that, ‘Oh see, a female-to-male beat me,'” the Penn swimmer told OutKick, referring to the 100-meter freestyle race.
‘BLATANTLY OBVIOUS’: Lia Thomas accused of colluding with fellow trans swimmer before racehttps://t.co/5vXuSQGiX0
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 20, 2022
Henig’s time in the event was 49.57 and Thomas’ was 52.84, OutKick reported. Thomas’ time for the same race during a tri-meet against Princeton and Cornell in November was 49.42 in November, according to Outkick.
In accordance with NCAA regulations, Thomas has been taking hormone suppressants, reported Swimming World.
After OutKick asked the anonymous swimmer if she truly believed Thomas and Henig were scheming together, she responded, “I do. I can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t be shocked if I found out that was 100% true.” (RELATED: Michael Phelps Calls For ‘Level Playing Field’ When CNN Anchor Asks About UPenn Trans Swimmer)
She also told OutKick that Thomas was “literally not trying” during a 200-meter race the transgender swimmer won by two seconds.
“I was on deck and said to a friend, ‘She’s literally not trying.’ You could just tell,” OutKick’s source said. “It was blatantly obvious. I was watching the 200 free and she was literally keeping pace with the other girls.”
“[Thomas] was No. 1 in the country at one point,” the source said. “These are definitely talented swimmers, but they’re not the caliber of being at the top in the country or anything like that.”
“You can tell when someone is dying and they’re swimming slow,” the source added. “You can also tell when someone is not trying and I could see [in the 200-meter freestyle] that Lia was not trying.”
The anonymous swimmer also said that the University of Pennsylvania swim team traveled to Florida with two private security guards — one male and one female. The women were also told to avoid wearing Penn gear, the source said according to OutKick.
“It was crazy. People were wearing shirts with Duct Tape on them and had bags duct-taped while Lia was wearing gear with big letters,” she told OutKick.
“She compares herself to Jackie Robinson,” an anonymous female swimmer from the Penn swim team told the Washington Examiner. “She said she is like the Jackie Robinson of trans sports.” It is unclear whether the swimmer who spoke to the Washington Examiner is the same one who spoke to Outkick.