Kentucky swimmer who tied with Lia Thomas says majority of women not okay with ‘trajectory’ of female sports

FIRST ON FOX: Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who tied with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas for fifth place within the 200-yard freestyle NCAA swimming championships, says the “majority” of females are “not okay with the trajectory” that feminine sports activities are taking.

Gaines’s remarks got here throughout an interview on the “Unmuted with Marsha” podcast hosted by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

“Nearly all of us feminine athletes, or females normally, actually, will not be okay with this, they usually’re not okay with the trajectory of this and the way that is going and the way it might find yourself in just a few years,” Gaines mentioned, referring to the NCAA’s unwillingness to vary the foundations in an effort to guard feminine aggressive sports activities.

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Gaines mentioned she is aware of a number of girls who really feel the identical method she does, however they’re “scared” to talk out towards transgender females collaborating in girls’s sports activities due to right now’s tradition, and “they do not need to danger their future.”

The College of Kentucky swimmer, who advised Blackburn she has been participating in swimming competitions for the reason that age of 10, outlined her feelings and afterthoughts when she realized she had tied with Thomas and didn’t obtain a trophy on the competitors.

“I touched the wall and noticed there was a 5 by my identify indicating that I acquired fifth … I additionally seemed up, and I noticed the quantity 5 by Lia’s identify and so, in that second, I spotted we tied,” Gaines advised Blackburn. “It was form of like a flood of feelings. I used to be extraordinarily blissful for the ladies above me who conquered what was seemingly unimaginable by beating Lia.”

“I used to be shocked, actually,” Gaines added.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., interviews Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines. 
(Unmuted with Marsha/YouTube)

Gaines walked away from the competitors that day with out a trophy for her placement, however Thomas didn’t.

“I walked again [to get my trophy] and the NCAA official got here as much as me, and he mentioned, ‘Hey, that was a fantastic swim. We solely have one fifth place trophy,’ which I understood, I get how that works. However he mentioned, ‘We’re gonna have to offer the trophy to Lia. Yours will probably be coming within the mail. Nice job.’”

“I used to be form of bowled over, and I do not suppose he essentially anticipated me to actually query it,” Gaines mentioned.

The Kentucky swimmer advised Blackburn that the official defined to her that the trophies got out in chronological order, however Gaines mentioned she was left confused seeing as how she tied with Thomas.

College of Pennsylvania transgender athlete Lia Thomas
(AP Photograph/John Bazemore)

“I do not suppose they dealt with this correctly, however I do not suppose they had been ready, you already know, to deal with this type of scenario, and they also had been confronted with one thing they had been uncertain what to do with,” Gaines mentioned.

“I checked out him and I mentioned, ‘That is the ladies’s 200-yard freestyle, and Lia gained a nationwide title final night time, and I’ve labored day-after-day for the previous 4 years for this,’” Gaines recalled, discussing how important it’s for her and people she is competing towards to make it to that time.

“I do not suppose lots of people understand, however solely the highest 1% of, you already know, feminine school athletes make it to this meet. That, in and of itself, is a big deal, however you need to battle for each level there, and I used to be form of simply pissed off with the way it was dealt with and the way they form of addressed me.”