Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Fox News Flash

Lia Thomas' competitors in 'emotional and psychological turmoil': NCAA All-American swimmer

She says it's 'more than just the sport'

Graham Colton By Graham Colton Fox News
Published
close
Stance against trans swimmer 'not about hate': NCAA All-American swimmer Video

Stance against trans swimmer 'not about hate': NCAA All-American swimmer

Jeri Shanteau explains why she is against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas competing against biological women on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

Eleven-time NCAA All-American swimming champion Jeri Shanteau described the toll that University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas' dominance of women's swimming is taking on competitors Thursday on "The Ingraham Angle."

Thomas' competitors cried with their coaches and parents after swimming against Thomas "because of the emotional and psychological turmoil that it is taking on these women."

MARTINA NAVRITILOVA: LIA THOMAS WINS SHOULD HAVE AN 'ASTERISK'

" … It is more than just the sport," Shanteau told host Laura Ingraham. "It is more than losing the titles, which they are certainly losing. It is also the psychological disruption that is happening to them and the lack of support that the universities and our NCAA [are] providing them. And it is abhorrent to be a part of."

Trans athlete Lia Thomas is now a women’s NCAA Champion Video

Shanteau added that her opinion "is not about hate," but "about protecting women in all aspects, now and in the future."

She earned the All-American title because she "was given a fair and equal opportunity" in swimming, unlike Thomas' competitors, she said.

  • Image 1 of 3

    Lia Thomas (L) of the University of Pennsylvania stands on the podium after winning the 500-yard freestyle as other medalists (L-R) Emma Weyant, Erica Sullivan and Brooke Forde pose for a photo at the NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championship in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

  • Image 2 of 3

    Lia Thomas looks on after winning the 500-yard freestyle during the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championship at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

  • Image 3 of 3

    University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas swims in the 500 freestyle finals during the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championship at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia.   (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

"We grow up being told the world isn't fair," she continued. "Life isn't fair. And sport provides one of the very few opportunities that we rely upon, and that is being taken away from them all of a sudden."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

They are also not permitted to speak, Ingraham said, "because if they do, they'll be drummed out of the university — a double insult."

Graham Colton is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to graham.colton@fox.com and on Twitter: @GrahamGColton.