Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is refusing to acknowledge transgender swimmer Lia Thomas' NCAA win final week and stated the state is selecting to honor runner-up and Sarasota-native Emma Weyant because the winner of the 500-yard freestyle as a substitute.
On Tuesday, the governor issued a proclamation declaring Weyant because the "rightful winner" of the race, saying that the NCAA's resolution to permit Thomas to compete and win serves to "erode alternatives for girls athletes and perpetuate a fraud towards ladies athletes."
Thomas, a swimmer for the College of Pennsylvania, made historical past on Thursday as the primary recognized transgender athlete to win a division one nationwide championship in any sport after beating Weyant by 1.75 seconds.
Weyant, who's a freshman on the College of Virginia, swam her quickest profession time throughout the championship and the third-fastest time in UVA historical past, in response to the school.
"By permitting males to compete in ladies's sports activities, the NCAA is destroying alternatives for girls, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud," DeSantis tweeted. "In Florida, we reject these lies and acknowledge Sarasota's Emma Weyant as the most effective ladies's swimmer within the 500y freestyle."
DeSantis just isn't the primary conservative determine to acknowledge Weyant because the winner over Thomas.
Congressman Dan Crenshaw, Angela Morabito, a former press secretary for the Division of Training throughout the Trump administration, and Clay Travis, political commentator and founding father of sports activities media firm OutKick, have additionally stated Weyant ought to have been declared the winner of the championship.
In Tuesday's proclamation, DeSantis additionally cited the Equity in Girls's Sports activities Act, which he signed into regulation final 12 months on the primary day of Pleasure month. The regulation bans transgender athletes from competing in women and girls's sports activities from center college to the school stage, together with in intramural sports activities.
"We thought it was crucial that women and younger ladies athletes within the state of Florida had the flexibility to work onerous, to understand their goals and to compete pretty," the governor stated at a Tuesday press convention. "Whether or not it is in swimming, it is in monitor and subject, you title it."
"To compete at that [college] stage may be very, very tough. And you do not simply roll away from bed and do it—That takes grit, that takes willpower," DeSantis added. "Now the NCAA is principally taking efforts to destroy ladies's athletics. They're making an attempt to undermine the integrity of the competitors, crowning someone else the ladies's champion, and we predict that is fallacious."
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