Erased at Penn, Ignored by the NCAA, and Still No One’s Talking About the Girls Who Lost
By Staff Writer David R
The University of Pennsylvania has officially removed Lia Thomas from its women’s swimming record books. The move follows a federal Title IX investigation and a resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education, which concluded that Penn violated the rights of female athletes by allowing Thomas—a transgender woman—to compete in women’s events during the 2021–22 season.
The erasure includes revoking school records, reassigning wins, and issuing formal apologies to swimmers who were displaced by Thomas’s performances. For the first time, Penn has acknowledged that inclusion came at a cost—namely, the competitive and legal standing of its female athletes.
It’s a stunning reversal for an institution that once held the line on gender identity policy. And it sets up an even bigger confrontation: will the NCAA follow suit?
The NCAA’s Waiting Game
While Penn has acted, the NCAA remains conspicuously silent. This is the same governing body that awarded Thomas the 500-yard freestyle title at the 2022 Division I championships—the first national championship won by an openly transgender athlete in any NCAA sport. The same body that deemed Thomas eligible under its rules at the time. And now, the same body refusing to reckon with the implications of its own policies.
Despite pressure from 28 state attorneys general, an Education Department request, and growing calls from female athletes and coaches, the NCAA has not indicated whether it will revise its records or issue any form of redress. Retroactive eligibility decisions aren’t unprecedented—but political will, it seems, is in short supply.
For the girls who lost to Thomas, this isn’t academic. These races decided rankings, scholarship opportunities, media exposure, and career pathways. And the silence from the NCAA only deepens the message: your losses were real, but your objections still don’t matter.
The Human Toll: Stories Behind the Stats
Take Riley Gaines. She tied Thomas in the 200-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships but was denied the trophy in favor of Thomas—a decision made solely for photo ops. Or Emma Weyant, the U.S. Olympic silver medalist who placed second behind Thomas in the 500-yard freestyle final. Their names, records, and performances were overshadowed by an eligibility debate they never agreed to join.
Now, Penn’s reversal validates their frustration. But it also underscores the failure of institutions to protect fairness in real time. For these athletes, retroactive justice feels like a consolation prize handed out long after the cameras left.
FloJo’s Record: A Different Kind of Spotlight
While Lia Thomas’s performances have been erased, Florence Griffith Joyner’s remain untouched—and rightly so. FloJo’s 1988 world record in the women’s 100-meter sprint—10.49 seconds—is still the fastest legal time ever run by a female athlete. But it also exposes a different kind of inequity.
According to World Athletics data, FloJo’s historic time would currently rank #8,015 among male sprinters. Let that sink in. The fastest woman in recorded history wouldn’t crack the top eight thousand among men. Not elite. Not competitive. Not even close.
And this isn’t about criticizing FloJo, whose achievements remain unparalleled. It’s about recognizing that elite female performance exists on a vastly different playing field. Biology matters. Physical advantage isn’t theoretical. It’s quantifiable. And the gap is enormous.
Rewriting Records, Preserving Truth
The juxtaposition is jarring. One athlete’s records have been retroactively erased because her participation is now deemed unfair. Another athlete’s record endures despite being radically outpaced by thousands of men. In both cases, institutions are deciding who gets remembered and why.
Penn’s decision is a milestone—but it also highlights the selective nature of accountability. What about the national championships? What about the NCAA? What about the millions of spectators who were told to “just respect the result” as girls walked away from the podium without trophies, medals, or press coverage?
The Performance Gap No One Wants to Name
Lia Thomas’s removal from Penn’s records isn’t just a policy update—it’s an admission that biology matters in sport. Yet the broader conversation still refuses to say the quiet part out loud: elite female athletes are consistently outperformed by male counterparts, and pretending otherwise doesn’t just hurt fairness—it erases reality.
FloJo remains the gold standard for women’s sprinting, but her ranking in the men’s class reveals just how deep the gender gap runs. And that fact should inform every debate about athletic categories, eligibility, and competition. Because if the fastest woman in history can’t crack the top 8,000 among men, what exactly is the argument for removing sex-based categories? Selective Erasure, Selective Silence
So here we are. UPenn has reversed course. The NCAA is stalling. The athletes who lost are finally being heard—but only in whispers. And FloJo’s record, while dazzling, underscores the very biological truths that public policy keeps dodging.
If equity is the goal, then truth needs a microphone. Sports are built on fairness, but fairness without honesty is just performance. And we owe female athletes more than apologies. We owe them acknowledgement, protection, and the right to win without having to defend their category.
Flojo’s world record now ranks outside the top 8,000 in the men’s class—a staggering stat that underscores the necessity of sex-based competition. Join the dialogue. Your perspective matters.
