Swimming Australia has moved to shut down “fake news” and “fabricated quotes” linked to swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan about transgender athlete Lia Thomas.
A comment attributed to O’Callaghan but not posted from her social media account has appeared in posts on Meta platform Facebook, as well as on X, and suggested the swimming star would not participate in the 2028 LA Games if a transgender swimmer is allowed to compete.
The quote falsely attributed to O’Callaghan included a provocative statement that “sharing a pool with Lia Thomas is truly an insult and a disgrace”.
Swimming Australia backed the Olympic champion in a statement headlined with “fake quotes attributed to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan”.
“There are currently fabricated quotes attributed to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan appearing on social media posts,” Swimming Australia said on Sunday.
“At no stage has O’Callaghan been interviewed and provided commentary on transgender athletes.
“Meta has been advised of the fake news, and O’Callaghan and Swimming Australia have requested the posts to be taken down.”
Posts that include the quote attributed to O’Callaghan were still visible on Facebook on Monday, while a Meta spokesperson told Guardian Australia that “we are investigating the request”.
Swimming Australia declined to make further comment.
United States transgender athlete Thomas is barred from competing in the female category under current World Aquatics guidelines and failed to overturn the rules in the lead up to the Paris Olympics.
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to Australia Sport
Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
The governing body introduced guidelines in 2022 which prohibit anyone who has undergone “any part of male puberty” from the female category.
O’Callaghan is a five-time Olympic gold medallist after beating fellow Australian Ariarne Titmus in the 200m freestyle final at the 2024 Paris Games along with being part of four relay team triumphs.
The 21-year-old added a 200m freestyle world championship crown to her honours in Tokyo in July this year.
O’Callaghan was competing in a World Cup short course meet in Indiana over the weekend and beat the field by nearly two seconds to take out the women’s 200m freestyle in a Commonwealth record 1:50.77.
