Lia Thomas
Lia Thomas swam for the Pennsylvanian men's team before beginning hormone replacement therapy in 2019

American swimmer Lia Thomas says that trans athletes are not a threat to women's sport.

In March, Thomas became the first known trans swimmer to win a national title, when he won the women's 500-yard freestyle.

Athletes did not transition to gain an advantage.

The inclusion of trans women in women's sport has divided opinion both inside and outside the sporting sphere.

Some argue that women should not compete in sport if they have any advantages over other women.

Lord Coe said that theintegrity and future of women's sport would be very fragile if the sporting organisation got the wrong regulations.

"The biggest misconception, I think, is the reason I transitioned," Thomas told ABC and ESPN. "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 said that trans women competing in women's sports does not threaten women's sports as a whole.

Trans women are a small minority of athletes. The rules regarding trans women competing in women's sports have been in place for over a decade. We haven't seen a huge wave of trans women dominating.

Thomas deserved to be celebrated for her hard-won success, according to US swimmerErica Sullivan.

Sullivan said she was proud to be one of more than 300 college, Team USA and Olympic swimmers who signed an open letter in support of Thomas.

Concerns about trans inclusion have been raised by other athletes.

Some of Thomas' team-mates and their parents wrote letters in support of her right to transition, but said it was unfair for her to compete as a woman.

Thomas said that you can't say you support trans women and trans people but only at a certain point.

If you support trans women as women and they met all the NCAA requirements, then I don't think you can say something like that.

I knew I would be scrutinized if I competed as a woman. I don't need anyone's permission to be myself and do the sport that I love.

Asked if she had ambitions to compete at the US Olympic trials in June 2024, Thomas said: "It has been a goal of mine to swim at an Olympic trials for very long time and I would love to see that through."

The debate on whether trans women should compete in women's sport involves a complex balance of inclusion, sporting fairness and safety - essentially, whether trans women can compete in female categories without giving them an unfair advantage or presenting a threat of injury to competitors.

Trans women have to adhere to a number of rules to compete in specific sports, including lowering their testosterone levels for a set period of time before competing.

Athletes retain an advantage from going through male puberty that is not addressed by lowering testosterone.

Two current elite female runners told BBC Sport earlier this month that trans women should compete in an open category in order to protect women in their sport.

They said that an open category would mean a level playing field for trans athletes.

Sharron Davies, a former swimmer, has said that no rules can reverse the advantage of male puberty, a point backed by sports scientist Professor Ross Tucker.

The collection of those things creates significant performance advantages.

The effectiveness of testosterone suppression has been questioned.

There isn't much research into what effect transitioning can have on an athlete because there aren't many.

There is a substantial performance loss with testosterone suppression, according to research by a scientist at a university.

Thomas started hormone replacement therapy in the spring of 2019.

She broke records for her university swimming team.

After transitioning, Thomas was able to better focus on her swimming and her performance was affected by depression in her first two years at university.

There are a lot of factors that go into a race, and the biggest change for her is that she is happy.

Having that lifted allowed me to put my all into training and racing after I was miserable in the second year.

The USA Swimming policy for elite swimmers was updated in February to allow trans athletes to swim in elite events, as well as reduce any unfair advantage, including testosterone tests for 36 months before the competition.

The debate surrounding the participation of trans athletes in sport has grown.

Emily Bridges was stopped from competing in her first elite women's race by the UCI.

After coming out as trans in 2020, Bridges began hormone therapy as part of her gender dysphoria treatment.

In the Tokyo Olympics last summer, Hubbard competed in the women's +87 kilogram weight class.

Hubbard was the first openly trans athlete to compete at a Games in a different gender category. She failed to record a lift in the women's weight class.