Recently, former NBA veteran Gilbert Arenas spoke out about the series of events that took place a little while back. In March 2022, Lia Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle event. In 2021 and 2022, she became part of the public debate about transgender women in sports.

She was ranked 400th as a male. Then she identified herself as transgender and competed as a female and went to number 1. 

She faced a lot of criticism because she had been training as a male and was competing in male competitions, then she declared she identifies as she/her. As a result, she took part in the women’s swimming event and won it. People criticized it because they thought that it was unfair to all the other girls who had been training for years. Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas had some similar thoughts.

He took the example of Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, who criticized Thomas to put his point forward. He said, “Look at Bruce Jenner. You were a (male) Olympic gold medalist. Now, what if you decided I wanted to be a female? You’re already a male gold medalist. You’re about to be a female gold medalist that’ll never lose ever in life.”

“Like yeah, no. There’s no rules, that’s why there should be rules and that’s one rule. If you’ve been training and playing as a male, so if you competed in male swim meets you cannot now go to women accordingly. That should be a rule.”

WATCH THIS STORY: Rival stage protest on podium against Lia Thomas.

What Arenas said made a lot of sense. Because it is not about accepting someone’s identity, but it is rather about equal chances. What he meant was that it seems unfair to the women who train all their life to become the best athlete they can be and then if they lose to someone who has trained oneself according to the male sports, that can have unfair advantages.

The story of Caitlyn Jenner and her criticism of Lia Thomas

Caitlyn Jenner is a male Olympic gold medalist which she won in 1976. She was born William Bruce Jenner and competed in male events all her career. Then, in 2015, she came out and declared her identity. She wanted to be called Caitlyn. Jenner’s public shift from male gender identity to a female one became a cultural touchstone. Her efforts to raise the visibility of transgender people were both widely praised and heavily scrutinized.

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On the topic of Lia Thomas, Caitlyn agreed with the criticism of her. She said, “It’s not transphobic or anti-trans, it’s COMMON SENSE!”. This was in reaction to the claims that the female contestant who came in 2nd was the rightful winner.

Lia was ranked 400th in the male category in swimming. She then won first place in the women’s swimming division.

This in no way means that female sporting events have a lesser level of competitiveness but to train for however many years as a male gives one a biological, and physical advantage and this is exactly the point Gilbert Arenas made. That is why the events are separate for males and females and that too height and weight classes.

What Rank Did Lia Thomas Stand at While Competing in the Men’s Swimming Division?

Gilbert Arenas also did not “unaccept” Lia Thomas’ decision to publicly be a trans athlete, but he said that even if that was the case, there should be a common rule about it that will be the same for all.