Trump vows to ban biological men from women's sports if reelected President

During Saturday’s rally in Conroe, Texas, former President Donald Trump vowed to ban biological male athletes from competing in women’s sports nationwide if he is re-elected as President in 2024.

"We will ban men from participating in women's sports," Trump said, adding: "so ridiculous."

"Did you see the man who was on the swimming team at a certain school that I know very well? The record held for like, 11 years, he beat it by 38 seconds," said Trump, referring to University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who has received criticisms from teammates and others because Thomas is transgender.

In the 1650 freestyle final at the Zippy Invitational in Ohio in December, Thomas won first place by a record breaking 38 seconds over the second place finisher. Thomas also broke school and Ivy League records in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle at the meet.

Since then, teammates have spoken out against their teammate inclusion in women's sports due to the fact that Thomas is a biological male. Thomas has gone on to win first in a multitude of races.

"Pretty much everyone individually has spoken to our coaches about not liking this. Our coach [Mike Schnur] just really likes winning. He's like most coaches. I think secretly everyone just knows it's the wrong thing to do," a female Penn swimmer said during a phone interview.

Trump continued on to talk about weightlifting records, saying one record that had been standing for 20 years was broken by a transgender female athlete, though he did not refer to which athlete, or which record was broken.

"But the best is the weightlifting records, they're going. One guy walks in with one hand he's going like this. He broke the record that held up for 20 years. For 20 years and putting like a little half an ounce on each side of the weights and the women are working so hard. This guy comes in 'Have you lifted before?' 'No,'" said Trump, before acting out the situation on stage.

"Take a look at the weightlifting record. You want to see some real — Think of it. Two ounces is unacceptable. They beat him by many, many, many, many, many, many pounds," he said.

Transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard qualified for the New Zealand Olympic team last year. At the 2019 Pacific Games, Hubbard won gold, lifting 268 kg, which was 7 kg and 13 kg more than her closest competitors. For comparison, the men's Gold Coast competition was won with a lift of 330 kg.

At the Tokyo Olympics though, Hubbard failed to place on the podium.

In a Gallup poll, 62 percent of Americans said they support athletes playing on teams and in leagues that match their biological sex. The poll did note though, that those who personally know transgender people were more likely to say they should play on a team that matches the person's gender identity than among those who don't know a transgender person.