NCAA admits transgenders aren't the same

After 11 years of allowing transgenders to compete as women in sports, the NCAA finally has acknowledged that this gives former men an advantage. Swimmer Lia Thomas, who fancies herself as the Jackie Robinson of transgenders has shown the folly of the old rule.

Thomas has had the surgery and has lowered her testosterone level.

But she also has shattered just about every women's swimming record there is.

And post-surgery her swimming is slower.

Shall we compare her best times as a man to her post-surgery swimming, which I put in parenthesis?

200 Free … 1:39.31 (1:41.93)

500 Free … 4:18.72 (4:34.06)

1,650 Free … 14:54.76 (15:59.71)

She was a good male swimmer. She made second team all-Ivy League in her sophomore year. The lower speeds may be the result of recovering from surgery. 

But her years of being male gave her a physical advantage that should disqualify her. No one is brave (or stupid) enough to say that. The LGBT will make your life miserable. Instead, the talk is about a level playing field, which is odd as pool water is as level as it gets.

Michael Phelps said, "I think this leads back to the organizing committees again, because it has to be a level playing field. That’s something that we all need. Because that’s what sports are. For me, I don’t know where this is going to go. I don’t know what’s going to happen."

Well no one except Caitlyn Jenner.

The rules are being changed midseason. Sorta.

The NCAA Board of Governors announced it "voted in support of a sport-by-sport approach to transgender participation that preserves opportunity for transgender student-athletes while balancing fairness, inclusion and safety for all who compete. The new policy, effective immediately, aligns transgender student-athlete participation for college sports with recent policy changes from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and International Olympic Committee.

"Like the Olympics, the updated NCAA policy calls for transgender participation for each sport to be determined by the policy for the national governing body of that sport, subject to ongoing review and recommendation by the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to the Board of Governors. If there is no NGB policy for a sport, that sport's international federation policy would be followed. If there is no international federation policy, previously established IOC policy criteria would be followed.

"The Board of Governors urged the divisions to provide flexibility to allow for additional eligibility if a transgender student-athlete loses eligibility based on the policy change provided they meet the newly adopted standards."

In football, this is called a punt.

We deserve better from an organization that rakes in $1.1 billion a year, most of it from football and men's basketball. Ah, the irony of men's sports subsidizing women's sports in college where men now are an underrepresented minority of 40% on college campuses. Most of the players are black men who are an even smaller minority.

The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America ain't happy.

CSAA tweeted, "We have been in communication with the NCAA BoG and are disappointed in their failure to take the lead in this important discussion."

Thomas has my sympathy. She was a very good Ivy League men's swimmer. Why not allow her to continue to compete with the men? In fact, why not make that the default for all transgenders?

Whatever the outcome, Thomas has shown that women's sports are not the equal of men's.