Claim that men’s team refused to compete against Lia Thomas originated as satire

Headlines about transgender athletes often involve women’s sports, but some social media users say men’s teams have refused to compete against transgender women.

“Men’s swimming team refuses to compete against Lia Thomas, calling her a ‘cheat,'” said a viral Dec. 14 Facebook post, linking to an article in the comments.

The article said, “In a dramatic and highly charged decision, a prominent collegiate men’s swimming team has reportedly refused to compete against Lia Thomas.” But it didn’t say what team was supposedly involved.

Lia Thomas False embed men's team refuse to compete — Figure 1: (Screenshot of Facebook post)

(Screenshot of Facebook post)

Lia Thomas, a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer, in 2022 became the first transgender athlete to win a NCAA Division I title. Several college athletes criticized Thomas’ participation in women’s swimming events and sued the NCAA over its policies.

After she graduated, Thomas challenged rules set by World Aquatics that deemed her ineligible to compete against women in the 2024 Summer Olympics, but didn’t succeed.

There is no evidence that Thomas has sought to compete against men’s teams since her transition.

Commenters on the Facebook post appeared to believe the claim that a men’s team refused to compete against Thomas, writing, “well done fellas,” and saying it’s “exactly what the women should have done!”

But don’t get caught up in the current — this claim originated as satire.

It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

An article with the same headline about Thomas appeared in October 2023 on the satire site SpaceXMania and has continued to resurface since. SpaceXMania’s website says, “Nothing on this page is real!”

The Facebook post does not include a satire label.

PolitiFact has fact-checked numerous claims that have originated on SpaceXMania but were shared without satire labels. Lia Thomas has become a frequent target of misinformation.

PolitiFact searched Google and the Nexis news database and found no evidence to support the claim that a men’s swimming team refused to compete against Lia Thomas.

We rate this claim False.