Author: staff

Sports

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas breaks silence on criticism: I transitioned to be happy, not to gain athletic advantage

Swimmer Lia Thomas, who became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship earlier this year, is responding to criticism against trans women competing in sports.“Trans people don’t transition for athletics,” Thomas said in an interview that aired Tuesday on “Good Morning America.”Advertisement“We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decisions,” she added.The former University of Pennsylvania swimmer first made national headlines in December after posting the nation’s fastest times in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle at the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio.AdvertisementFour months later, after winning the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA swimming and diving championships in Atlanta, Ga., Thomas’ success quickly turned her into the poster child of the anti-trans movement in sports.Despite complying with hormone therapy requirement guidelines, Thomas was fiercely criticized by some on social media and was also vilified by a number of prominent conservative voices, including Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who tweeted that the NCAA was “destroying opportunities for women, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud” by allowing her to compete.“The biggest misconception, I think, is the reason I transitioned,” said the 23-year-old swimmer, who began hormone therapy in May 2019.“People will say, ‘Oh, she just transitioned so she would have an advantage, so she could win.’ I transitioned to be happy, to be true to myself,” Thomas added.Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas waits for results after swimming the women’s 200 freestyle final at the NCAA swimming and diving championships, Friday, March 18, 2022, at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. (John Bazemore/AP)Thomas, who graduated from Penn earlier this month, said that she will attend law school in the fall. She later hopes to work in civil rights and public interest law.“Having seen such hateful attacks on trans rights through legislation, fighting for trans rights and trans equality is something that I’ve become much more passionate about and want to pursue,” she said.“Trans women competing in women’s sports does not threaten women’s sports as a whole,” Thomas said. “Trans women are a very small minority of all athletes. The NCAA rules regarding trans women competing in women’s sports have been around for 10-plus years. And we haven’t seen any massive wave of trans women dominating.”

Sports

Nick Saban has ‘no problem’ with Jimbo Fisher and says ‘I didn’t really say that anybody did anything wrong’

DESTIN, Fla. — Alabama coach Nick Saban tried to put an end to his feud with Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher on Tuesday as Southeastern Conference leaders gathered for spring meetings at a resort on the Florida Gulf Coast.“I didn’t really say that anybody did anything wrong,” Saban said when asked if he had evidence that Texas A&M has been buying players with name, image and likeness compensation deals. “OK, and I’ve said everything I’m going to say about this. I should have never mentioned any individual institutions as I’ve said that before.”AdvertisementSaban added: “I have no problem with Jimbo. I have no problem with Jimbo at all.”Saban set off Fisher two weeks ago when he called out Texas A&M and other schools while talking about the need for NIL regulation in college sports.AdvertisementFisher responded angrily, saying Saban’s comments were despicable and calling his former boss at LSU a “narcissist” while denying any wrongdoing with his program that landed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2022.The SEC spring meetings — taking place in person for the first time since 2019 because of the pandemic —- were the first opportunity for the two superstar coaches to meet face-to-face since the dustup. Fisher was not scheduled to meet with reporters Tuesday.Georgia coach Kirby Smart downplayed the back and forth between Fisher and Saban. Smart worked under Saban for years, including a season at LSU when Fisher was Saban’s offensive coordinator.“You guys should be on the headphones sometimes,” Smart said, referencing the interaction between coaches on game days. “It just happened in front of everybody.”Before heading into what was scheduled to be a five-hour meeting with all 14 SEC coaches, Saban met with reporters for about 10 minutes.The first question Saban he was asked was about Texas A&M and he quickly pivoted into trying to make a broader point about NIL.“Some kind of uniform name, image and likeness standard that supports some kind of equitable, national competition I think is really, really important in college athletics and college football,” Saban said.Saban said transparency was needed to ensure athletes are signing legitimate deals that pay them for their services and that boosters needed to be kept out of recruiting.The NCAA lifted most of its rules barring athletes from earning money from sponsorship and endorsement deals last July, but there are concerns among many in college sports that NIL deals are being used as recruiting inducements and de facto pay-for-play. The NCAA issued guidance to Division I members in early May to make clear booster-funded collectives being involved in recruiting is a rules violation.AdvertisementChicago Tribune SportsWeekdaysA daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.“Believe me, I’m all for players making as much as they can make,” Saban said. “But I also think we’ve got to have some uniform, transparent way to do that.”Florida coach Billy Napier, another former Saban assistant and newcomer to the SEC in his first year in Gainesville, ducked commenting about Saban and Fisher, but agreed the current situation with NIL compensation is difficult to manage.“We’re living in a land of no laws,” Napier said, but added he has no qualms with football players taking home some of the millions in revenue they generate.“It’s foolish to say the players don’t deserve a piece of the pie,” Napier said. “If there’s no players in the stadium there’s nobody sitting in the stands, and nobody sitting at home watching on TV.”Saban reiterated Alabama players made plenty of money with NIL deals last year, hiring agents to guide them through the process.He just wants those deals to be struck after a player enrolls at a school.Advertisement“This is not about Alabama,” Saban said. “This is not about what’s best for us. I just hope we can sort of put some guardrails on all of this.”

Lifestyle

Chicago Botanic Garden turns 50

ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 25Dried and preserved flowers make up United Kingdom artist Rebecca Louise Law’s “Herbarium” at the Chicago Botanic Garden on May 26, 2022, in Glencoe. The Garden is celebrating its 50th anniversary with “Flourish: The Garden at 50.” (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

News

Your heart is an empty storage unit

There’s a mannequin staring down from the second-floor window of the Lock Up Self Storage on Lincoln. She has a blonde wig and a stoic demeanor—the…

Sports

Coco Gauff reaches 1st Grand Slam semifinal at French Open

PARIS — Coco Gauff left Roland Garros 12 months ago crestfallen, knowing she let a big lead slip away in her major quarterfinal debut. She vowed to remember that and learn from it.Consider that done.AdvertisementGauff, still only 18, returned to that stage Tuesday for a second time and was not about to let this one end similarly, beating 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up Sloane Stephens 7-5, 6-2 in a matchup between Americans at Court Philippe Chatrier to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.“It was just a mental challenge today,” said Gauff, who began this trip to Paris by taking photos near the Eiffel Tower while holding her recently earned high school diploma. “Last year in the quarterfinals, it was a tough loss for me and I think that match made me stronger and better prepared for the tough moments today.”AdvertisementGauff has seemed to be preparing for this sort of moment for quite some time, even before she became the youngest qualifier in Wimbledon history at age 15 and beat Venus Williams en route to the fourth round there in 2019, even before she won the French Open junior title a year prior.Coco Gauff celebrates defeating Sloane Stephens to advance to the French Open semifinal. (Thibault Camus/AP)One measure of how she has continued to improve: Her forehand was long considered her weaker groundstroke, but against Stephens, that produced more winners than her backhand did.“I believe in myself. Even last year, I was too focused on trying to fulfill other people’s expectations,” said Gauff, who hasn’t dropped a set through five matches. “I know no matter how good or bad my career is, I know I’m a good person, so I think that’s a good message for young people. … Just know: If you love yourself, who cares what anyone else thinks?”Her quick rise is quite a contrast from the long road her next opponent, Martina Trevisan of Italy, traveled along the way to her own first Slam semifinal at age 28.The 59th-ranked Trevisan is emotive as can be, and she screamed while thrusting both arms overhead and letting her racket fly after eliminating U.S. Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, who was seeded 17th, by a 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3 score in a match between a pair of left-handers.Fernandez was treated by a trainer for a problem with her right foot after the match’s fifth game and her movement was hampered throughout. About three hours following the match, reporters were told that Fernandez would not speak to the media “on advice of the tournament medical team due to” the injury.Trevisan eventually finished things off nearly an hour after holding her first match point while serving for the victory at 5-4 in the second set. She double-faulted twice in the ensuing tiebreaker.“I felt a lot of tension,” Trevisan said later, “and I was so nervous … my arms felt it.”AdvertisementSo after that lapse, Trevisan took a trip to the locker room.“I was very tired and I had to go to the bathroom. I got just a quick moment alone in a room, away from the court, away from any people, in silence. It gave me a chance to regroup. I threw some water on my face,” she said. “I was playing to get to a semifinal, and I still had a set in front of me, so I had to start from scratch.”The reset worked wonders.Trevisan grabbed the initial seven points of the third set and took a 4-0 lead in what would become her 10th consecutive victory on the heels of earning her first WTA title at Rabat, Morocco, the week before the French Open.In 2020, Trevisan beat Gauff in the second round at Roland Garros on the way to reaching the quarterfinals as a qualifier who was ranked 159th and making only her second main-draw Grand Slam appearance.About two months beforehand, Trevisan wrote a blog post that discussed in detail her experience with anorexia as a teenager. At 16, Trevisan was a promising prospect whose mother taught tennis — and named her after Martina Navratilova — and whose brother played professionally (her father was a pro soccer player).AdvertisementBeset by pressure, Trevisan quit her sport and took a 4 1/2-year break, before returning in 2014.“I’m happy on the court. I’m doing what I love,” she said Tuesday. “So my past is the past, and it helps me to be in the present, to be what I am right now.”