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Swimming Australia has moved to suppress described as “false information” and “false comments” attributed to swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan regarding transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

Social Media Posts Circulate Inaccurate Claims

A comment credited to O’Callaghan but not shared from her official profiles has been seen in updates on Meta platform Facebook, as well as on the platform X, and claimed the Olympic champion would boycott in the 2028 LA Games if a trans athlete is allowed to participate.

The statement wrongly credited to O’Callaghan included a provocative statement that “sharing a pool with Lia Thomas is truly an disgrace and a embarrassment”.

Formal Statement from the Federation

The organization backed the gold medalist in a statement headlined with “fake quotes attributed to Australian team member Mollie O’Callaghan”.

“There are currently false statements attributed to team member Mollie O’Callaghan circulating on social media posts,” Swimming Australia announced this past Sunday.

“Not at any point has O’Callaghan spoken to media and made statements on transgender athletes.

“Facebook’s parent company has been notified of the false information, and O’Callaghan and the federation have requested the posts to be taken down.”

Latest Developments and Background

Posts that include the quote attributed to O’Callaghan were still visible on the platform on Monday, while a Meta spokesperson said that “we are looking into the appeal”.

Swimming Australia did not offer further comment.

United States trans swimmer Lia Thomas is banned from racing in the women’s events under current World Aquatics rules and failed to overturn the policies in the run-up to the recent Games.

The international federation introduced guidelines in recent years which ban anyone who has experienced “any phase of puberty as a male” from the female category.

Regarding Mollie O’Callaghan

O’Callaghan is a multiple champion after outpacing teammate Ariarne Titmus in the freestyle event final at the 2024 Paris Games along with contributing to several team victories.

The 21-year-old earned a 200m freestyle world title to her honours in Tokyo in July this year.

O’Callaghan was racing in a short course competition in the United States over the weekend and beat the field by nearly two seconds to take out the women’s 200m freestyle in a Commonwealth record of 1:50.77.