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The national swimming federation has moved to stop described as “fabricated stories” and “false comments” attributed to Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan regarding transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

Social Media Posts Circulate False Statements

Remarks attributed to O’Callaghan but not posted from her official profiles has surfaced in posts on the social media site Facebook, as well as on the platform X, and implied the Olympic champion would not participate in the 2028 Olympics if a transgender athlete is permitted to race.

The statement falsely attributed to O’Callaghan contained a inflammatory comment that “being in the same lane with Lia Thomas is really an disgrace and a shame”.

Formal Statement from Swimming Australia

The organization stood by the Olympic champion in a statement titled with “false statements linked to Australian team member Mollie O’Callaghan”.

“There are currently made-up comments credited to team member Mollie O’Callaghan appearing on social media posts,” the federation said this past Sunday.

“Not at any point has O’Callaghan been interviewed and made statements on trans swimmers.

“Meta has been notified of the fabricated stories, and O’Callaghan and Swimming Australia have requested the posts to be deleted.”

Latest Developments and Context

Updates that feature the statement linked to O’Callaghan were still circulating on Facebook on the following day, while a Meta spokesperson commented that “we are investigating the demand”.

The organization declined to make more details.

American trans swimmer Lia Thomas is barred from participating in the female category under current international swimming rules and failed to overturn the rules in the lead up to the Olympic event.

The international federation put in place rules in 2022 which ban anyone who has experienced “any phase of male development” from the women’s division.

About Mollie O’Callaghan

O’Callaghan is a five-fold Olympic gold medallist after outpacing compatriot Ariarne Titmus in the 200m freestyle final at the recent Olympics along with participating in four relay team triumphs.

The 21-year-old secured a 200m freestyle global championship to her achievements in Tokyo in July this year.

O’Callaghan was participating in a short course short course meet in Indiana recently and outpaced the opponents by a significant margin to take out the women’s 200m freestyle in a new best of 1:50.77.