Governor Ron DeSantis refuses to recognise transgender swimmer's victory

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has signed a proclamation recognising Emma Weyant as the winner of the highest US national collegiate swimming title, which she lost to transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win the title last week by winning in 500-yard freestyle event held in Atlanta.

However, Republican governor DeSantis stated on Tuesday that the outcome "undermined the integrity of the competition." Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania swimmer, won the event in Atlanta in four minutes and 33.24 seconds.

Weyant of Sarasota, Florida, who won silver in the 400m individual medley in the Tokyo Olympics, came in second, 1.75 seconds behind.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was chastised by DeSantis for allowing Thomas to compete.

"The NCAA is effectively attempting to ruin women's athletics, they're attempting to undermine the integrity of the competition, and they're declaring someone else the women's champion, which we believe is improper," he said.

"They are prioritising ideology over opportunity for female athletes, and I believe that some people are hesitant to stand up and say what they are doing, but that is exactly what they are doing."

Thomas swam for three seasons for the Pennsylvanian men's squad before beginning hormone replacement treatment in the spring of 2019.

In February, the United States Swimming Federation changed its policy to enable transgender athletes to compete in elite events while also establishing measures to mitigate any undue advantage.

The NCAA, which oversees college swimming, concluded that implementing the new rules in the middle of the season would be unfair, allowing Thomas to compete.

On Monday, Lord Coe, the head of the World Athletics Federation, issued a warning about the future of women's sport if sporting organisations get transgender athlete policies wrong.

"I believe that the integrity of women's sport, and indeed the future of women's sport, is quite precarious if we don't get this right," Coe added.