DeSantis declares runner-up in NCAA women’s swimming event winner over Lia Thomas

Fox News correspondent Charles Watson describes the controversy surrounding the transgender athlete on 'Fox Report Weekend.'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he will issue a proclamation acknowledging the runner-up in a recent NCAA women's 500-yard freestyle swimming event as the winner instead of transgender athlete Lia Thomas. 

"We're going to be doing a proclamation saying that Emma [Weyant] is the best female swimmer" in the 500-yard freestyle event last week, DeSantis said Tuesday. "She earned that and we need to stop allowing organizations like the NCAA to perpetuate frauds on the public."

Emma Weyant, an Olympic medalist and Florida native attending the University of Virginia, lost to Thomas by 1.75 seconds in the 500-yard freestyle event last Thursday. She clocked a time of 4:34.99, falling behind Thomas in the final 100 yards of the 500 freestyle event. It was Weyant’s fastest career time, WFLA reported. 

TWITTER EXPLODES OVER TRANS SWIMMER LIA THOMAS WINNING NATIONAL TITLE: 'A SLAP IN THE FACE TO WOMEN AND GIRLS'

Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania swimmer, subsequently became the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship.  

Lia Thomas of the Pennsylvania Quakers after winning the 500 meter freestyle event during a tri-meet against the Yale Bulldogs and the Dartmouth Big Green at Sheerr Pool on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania on January 8, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

"If you look at what the NCAA has done in allowing basically men to compete in women’s athletics, and in this case swimming … you had the number one woman who finished was from Sarasota, Emma Weyent. She won the silver medal, she’s been an absolute superstar her whole career,"