May 16, 2023

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas made history when she became the first transgender athlete to win a NCAA Division I title. But recent social media posts claim the title has been revoked.

Tweets linked to an article titled, “NCAA Strips Lia Thomas Of National Championship After ‘Unfavorable’ Test Results.”

One May 11 tweet with the same article was captioned, “Aww not only was he a male he cheated too? Enhancement drug!”

The link leads to an article on the website Dunning-Kruger-Times.com, a website that says on its “About Us” page, that it is a subsidiary of the “‘America’s Last Line of Defense’ network of parody, satire and tomfoolery.” It said that “everything on this website is fiction.”

There are no new reports or statements from the NCAA that say Thomas’ title was revoked. NCAA records for 2022 still show her first-place finish for the 500-yard freestyle. In July 2022, she was nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

We rate this claim False.

This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.

Support high-integrity, independent journalism that serves democracy. Make a gift to Poynter today. The Poynter Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, and your gift helps us make good journalism better.
Donate
Loreben Tuquero is a reporter covering misinformation for PolitiFact. She previously worked as a researcher/writer for Rappler, where she wrote fact checks and stories on…
Loreben Tuquero

More News

Back to News