Lia Thomas to be represented by former swimmer who fought Caster Semenya's case against World Athletics

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas is pursuing legal action against World Aquatics, and she is to be represented by Carlos Sayao, the lawyer who represented sprinter Caster Semenya in her appeal against World Athletics.

Thomas initially rose to fame in 2022, when she became the first openly trans woman to win a NCAA Division I title. At that time, the 25-year-old had intentions of representing America at the Olympics. However, just three months after her victory in the 500-yard freestyle event, World Aquatics introduced a rule that banned those who had gone through male puberty from competing in women's events.

With that, Thomas was forced to stop swimming competitively, but the Telegraph UK has now confirmed that the swimmer has hired Canadian law firm Tyr to take a case to the court of arbitration for sport in Switzerland.

Lia Thomas will be represented at the hearing by attorney Carlos Sayao, who while being a former competitive swimmer himself, was previously Caster Semenya's lawyer in 2019.

Semenya was pursuing a case against World Athletics when the organization tried to enforce rules that required her to medically reduce her natural hormone levels to compete.

As a competitive swimmer, Sayao represented Canada at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in England as well as the 2003 World Championships. He was also the gold-medalist in the 400 individual medley event at the 2003 Canadian Trials with a time of 4:19.66.

Speaking about Lia Thomas’ case, the lawyer told the Telegraph UK:

“Lia has now had the door closed to her in terms of her future ability to practice her sport and compete at the highest level. She’s bringing the case for herself and other trans women to ensure that any rules for trans women’s participation in sport are fair, proportionate and grounded in human rights and in science.”

Lia Thomas on being a transgender athlete

Lia Thomas began her transition journey in 2019, and she has admitted that she thought her career was over when she began to transition. However, after undergoing 30 months of hormone therapy, Thomas made a comeback to the pool and was the subject of intense scrutiny and criticism.

Reacting to the criticism, the swimmer told ESPN:

“The biggest misconception, I think, is the reason I transitioned. People will say, 'Oh, she just transitioned so she would have an advantage, so she could win.' I transitioned to be happy, to be true to myself.”

She went on to defend transgender athletes against claims that they were taking opportunities from cis women, saying:

"It's no different than a cis woman taking a spot on a travel team or a scholarship. It's a part of athletics, where people are competing against each other. It's not taking away opportunities from cis women, really. Trans women are women, so it's still a woman who is getting that scholarship or that opportunity.”

While Lia Thomas had once intended to compete at the Olympics, it looks unlikely that she will be able to make it to Pairs despite her case against the World Aquatics.