NCAA's 'sport-by-sport approach to transgender participation' stirs debate

By Ray Sanchez, CNN

Updated 2139 GMT (0539 HKT) January 22, 2022

Transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas competes in a freestyle event in Philadelphia on January 8.

(CNN)A new NCAA policy allowing the national governing body for each sport to determine the eligibility of transgender athletes has come under fire by observers on the various sides of a highly charged debate over participation in college sports.

The policy, announced late Wednesday, comes as University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas — scheduled to compete at Harvard University on Saturday --is setting record times on the women's team this season. She had previously competed on the men's swimming team at Penn and underwent two years of hormone therapy.Now Thomas is being hailed as one of the best women's collegiate swimmers in the country, with her rapid success prompting both praise and criticism in the swimming world. Transgender athletes will now have mandatory testosterone testing starting with the 2022-23 academic year — at the beginning of their season and again six months later, according to rules approved this week by the NCAA Board of Governors. Additionally, they will need to test four weeks before championship selections. Florida becomes 8th state to enact anti-trans sports ban this yearThe NCAA previously required that transgender women have testosterone suppression treatment for a year before competing on a women's team. Read MorePenn Athletics said it will work with the NCAA regarding Thomas' participation in the 2022 swimming and diving championship in March.Still, from the association representing college swimming and diving coaches to former Olympic swimmers to the parents of women swimmers at the collegiate level, the