Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has lost a legal battle to overturn a ban on biological males competing against women in a bid to compete in the Paris Olympics.
Thomas, 25, first came to prominence after becoming the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA college title in 2022.
Thomas has been banned from competing against biological women in international events since 2022 after the sport’s governing body changed its regulations.
World Aquatics has changed its policy so that transgender women can only compete in women’s races if they complete their transition at age 12.
According to The guardThomas argued that those rules “should be declared invalid and illegal, and were contrary to the Olympic Charter and the World Aquatics Convention.
In a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, they concluded that Thomas was ‘not entitled to participate in the eligibility to participate in WA competitions’.
Thomas, 25, first rose to prominence after becoming the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA college title in 2022