Paula Scanlan has welcomed the news that her former teammate Lia Thomas will not be allowed to compete at the Olympic Games and says she should receive an apology for being “forced to undress” with the transgender athlete “18 times a week”.

It was announced on Wednesday afternoon that the 25-year-old swimmer would not be allowed to compete at the Olympic Games after losing his legal battle to have the rules overturned on his potential involvement.

Scanlan took to social media shortly after the verdict was revealed to demand an apology, writing the following on Twitter (x): “Okay, but is anyone going to apologize for making us get naked with him 18 times a week?”

Thomas captured headlines for the first time in March 2022 when she became the first transathlete to win the NCα women’s college swimming title, the USα’s most prestigious college title.

But it wasn’t long before World Aquatics (Wα) introduced a rule change that would prevent anyone who had undergone “any part of male puberty” from competing in the women’s category.

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Paula Scanlan (pictured left) welcomed the news that her former teammate Lia Thomas Will (pictured right) may not be allowed to compete at the Olympics

Instead, they created an “open” category for which transgender athletes would be eligible. However, the decision did not sit well with Thomas, who asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the rules passed in 2022.

Thomas — who swam for the Pennsylvania men’s team for three seasons before starting hormone replacement therapy in early 2019 — argued the rules were invalid, illegal and discriminatory.

However, the three-judge Cαs panel rejected Thomas’ request for arbitration with the governing world aquatics body and tossed the case on a “technicality.”

They said Thomas “simply had no right to engage with eligibility to compete in Wα competitions such as the Olympics or world championships” because he was no longer a part of swimming.

One result, the decision ended Thomas’ hopes of competing at the Olympic Games, which the 25-year-old called “deeply disappointing” in a statement provided by his legal team.

The statement shared via αP read: “Blanket bans that prevent trans women from competing are discriminatory and deprive us of valuable athletic opportunities that are core to our identities.”

Thomas is believed to have said that the decision taken by the Court of Arbitration for Sport should be seen as a call to action for trans women to “fight for our dignity and human rights”.

While Gay & Lesbian αGainst Defamation (GLααD) President/CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement that Thomas deserves the chance to participate in his sport and follow his dream

Thomas captured headlines in March 2022 when she became the first transathlete to win the NCα women’s college swimming title—the most prestigious college title in the USα.

It was announced on Wednesday afternoon that the 25-year-old swimmer would not be allowed to compete in women’s events at the Olympics

Scanlan, Thomas’ former University of Pennsylvania teammate, took to social media shortly after the verdict was revealed to demand an apology.

She claims she was forced to strip with transgender swimmer in Pennsylvania

Thomas swam for the Pennsylvania men’s team for three seasons before starting hormone replacement therapy

“Aquatics around the world continue to spread misinformation about transgender people as a distorted way to ‘protect women,’” Ellis added. “Transgender women are women, and all athletes who want to play and follow the rules should be able to do so.”

However, one person who welcomed the news was Thomas’ former teammate, Scanlan. Scanlan took to Twitter (X) to make her feelings known after the verdict was announced.

Scanlan — who swam at the University of Pennsylvania alongside Thomas — retweeted the New York Post story, announcing that the transgender athlete would not be able to compete in the Olympics.

The post — which has been viewed 3.9 million times and liked 47,000 times — read: “Okay, but is anyone going to apologize for making us get naked with him 18 times a week?”

This isn’t the first time Scanlan has spoken out against Thomas’ involvement in women’s sports, having lashed out at the Democratic Party for putting “trans rights” above women’s fears.

While testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government last week, Scanlan raised the issue of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.

She urged lawmakers to put women’s physical safety first when making decisions about women-only spaces like locker rooms, having previously confessed to having “nightmares for weeks” after sharing a locker room with trans-athletes.

Reportedly a victim of sexual assault in a bathroom as a 16-year-old, Scanlan shared that Thomas’ presence brought up previous trauma from her adolescence.

Speaking to the New York Post, Scanlan said: “Bathrooms in general were a place where I felt really uncomfortable. I just wish I could go through the same thing again when I was 16.

“I’d be in my locker and then all of a sudden I’d hear a male voice, and I’d just want to jump. ‘I was like, ‘Oh my God, someone came in here.’ It’s incredibly vulnerable. I had nightmares for weeks about men being there while we were getting dressed.”

Thomas sparked a wave of controversy after moving up to the women’s team in 2021. She set seven UPENN women’s team records (five individual) and won three individual events at the Ivy League Championships in February 2022.

Thomas defended her place in women’s swimming during an interview with Sports Illustrated last year. She began by saying, “I’m a woman, just like everyone else on the team. I’ve always seen myself as just a swimmer. It’s what I’ve done for so long; it’s what I love.”

However, her critics have also included those from the transgender community, with Olympic champion Caitlyn Jenner disagreeing with Thomas that she was allowed to compete as a woman.

Scanlan testifying at a House Judiciary hearing on the dangers of “gender-referenced care” in 2023

She says Thomas’ presence in the woman’s space made her and others feel uncomfortable.

While Thomas’ college career is over, Scanlan still believes it is an important topic as there will be similar cases in the future.

“I’ve been consistent in how I’ve approached transgender athletes, and it depends on the sport. Every sport is different,” he told Fox News earlier this year. “Obviously, we saw with Lia Thomas who had gone through male puberty, the bigger cardiovascular system, that wasn’t right.”

While Thomas’ college career is over, Scanlan still believes it’s an important topic as there will be similar cases in the future with amateur and professional sports.

“If there was a guy on my team in high school, I would have quit and literally have nothing,” she told the Post. “I would never have gotten into a good college. My whole life would have been derailed.

“If even one girl is discouraged from competing in sports because of this, we have failed,” Scanlan added. “It is so important that we provide girls with these same opportunities.”