Lia Thomas' competitors in 'emotional and psychological turmoil': NCAA All-American swimmer
She says it's 'more than just the sport'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}" … 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."
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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"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."
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They are also not permitted to speak, Ingraham said, "because if they do, they'll be drummed out of the university — a double insult."