Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas is challenging the international ban on her competing in elite women's races.
World swimming's governing body in June 2022 effectively banned transgender women from competing in women's events.
World Aquatics, then known as FINA, adopted a new "gender inclusion policy" that only permits swimmers who transitioned before age 12 to compete in women's events.
Similar rules were adopted for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Thomas, the first trans swimmer to win an NCAA Division I women's national championship, has been mounting a secret legal challenge against the ban on her competing in elite women's races, The Telegraph reported.
Thomas has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland to overturn World Aquatics' rules, the outlet said.
The trans swimmer has hired a top Canadian law firm, Tyr, which describes its attorneys as "fearless advocates" who have been involved in "high-stakes and precedent-setting cases."
Cases heard by CAS are heard behind closed doors unless the parties involved consent otherwise, The Telegraph reported.
Thomas went to the court in September, and World Aquatics since then has applied to have the case thrown out on the basis she is not currently impacted by its rules because she has not submitted herself to the jurisdiction of USA Swimming, its recognized member association, the outlet said.
After graduating from college in May 2022, Thomas told ABC's "Good Morning America" that it had been her goal "to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through."
However, Thomas has not competed since her NCAA title win and her CAS case unlikely will be heard in time for the trans swimmer to qualify for this year's Summer Games.
The 2028 Sumer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles.
The New York Times reported in 2022 that doctors confirmed Thomas has a physical advantage in competition over biological females.
"There are social aspects to sport, but physiology and biology underpin it; testosterone is the 800-pound gorilla," the Mayo Clinic's Dr. Michael J. Joyner told The New York Times. "You see the divergence immediately as the testosterone surges into the boys. There are dramatic differences in performances."
In October, swimming events created to include transgender and nonbinary participants were canceled the World Cup in Berlin, Germany, after no entries were received.
World Aquatics, which had proposed an "open competition category," said 50- and 100-meter "open category" races would not be held at the annual event.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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