Australian Swimming Federation Acts to Halt Fake Statements Attributed to Champion Athlete Mollie O’Callaghan
The national swimming federation has moved to suppress labeled as “false information” and “false comments” attributed to Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan regarding transgender athlete Lia Thomas.
Social Media Posts Circulate Inaccurate Statements
A statement attributed to O’Callaghan but not shared from her social media accounts has surfaced in updates on the social media site Facebook, as well as on X, and claimed the Olympic champion would refuse to compete in the 2028 Olympics if a trans athlete is permitted to race.
The quote incorrectly linked to O’Callaghan featured a controversial comment that “being in the same lane with Lia Thomas is really an insult and a disgrace”.
Official Statement from Swimming Australia
The organization stood by the gold medalist in a statement titled with “false statements linked to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan”.
“There are currently false statements linked to team member Mollie O’Callaghan seen on platform posts,” Swimming Australia stated recently.
“Never has O’Callaghan spoken to media and made statements on trans swimmers.
“Facebook’s parent company has been notified of the fake news, and O’Callaghan and the federation have asked the content to be deleted.”
Latest Developments and Context
Updates that feature the statement credited to O’Callaghan were still circulating on the platform on Monday, while a company representative stated that “we are reviewing the appeal”.
Swimming Australia declined to make more details.
American transgender athlete Lia Thomas is banned from participating in the female category under current international swimming guidelines and failed to overturn the regulations in the period before the Paris Olympics.
World Aquatics enacted rules in 2022 which prohibit anyone who has gone through “any part of male puberty” from the women’s division.
About Mollie O’Callaghan
O’Callaghan is a multiple gold medal winner after defeating fellow Australian Ariarne Titmus in the 200-meter freestyle final at the 2024 Paris Games along with being part of four relay team triumphs.
O’Callaghan secured a 200m freestyle global championship to her honours in Tokyo in recent months.
O’Callaghan was participating in a World Cup competition in the United States over the weekend and beat the competitors by nearly two seconds to win the freestyle race in a new best of 1:50.77.
