Lia Thomas: Florida governor refuses to recognise transgender swimmer's victory

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has declared Emma Weyant the winner of the US national college swimming title, despite the fact she finished runner-up to transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

Mr DeSantis signed a proclamation to say Weyant is the victor after coming second to Thomas at the event in Atlanta last week.

Thomas finished first in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of four minutes 33.24 seconds to make history by becoming the first transgender woman to win an NCAA championship, with the Floridian Tokyo Olympics silver medallist 1.75 seconds behind.

Mr DeSantis was critical of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for permitting Thomas to compete.

"The NCAA is basically taking efforts to destroy women's athletics, they're trying to undermine the integrity of the competition and they're crowning somebody else the women's champion and we think that's wrong," Mr DeSantis said.

"They are putting ideology ahead of opportunity for women athletes and I think that there are just some people that are afraid to speak out and say what they are doing, but that is what they are doing."

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

Transgender athletes have been allowed to swim in elite events since US swimming updated it policy in February, which includes a number of stipulations to limit any advantages.

Thomas' victory has reignited the debate over the rights of transgender athletes to compete.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has said the "integrity and future of women’s sport" is at risk in the debate over transgender female athletes.