The national swimming federation has acted to stop what it calls “fake news” and “false comments” attributed to Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan concerning transgender athlete Lia Thomas.
A comment attributed to O’Callaghan but not shared from her online platforms has appeared in content on the social media site Facebook, as well as on X, and claimed the Olympic champion would refuse to compete in the 2028 LA Games if a transgender athlete is permitted to participate.
These words falsely attributed to O’Callaghan included a provocative statement that “sharing a pool with Lia Thomas is truly an insult and a shame”.
The organization backed the Olympic champion in a announcement titled with “fabricated comments linked to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan”.
“At present, there are false statements credited to team member Mollie O’Callaghan circulating on social media posts,” Swimming Australia announced this past Sunday.
“At no stage has O’Callaghan spoken to media and given remarks on this issue.
“Facebook’s parent company has been advised of the fabricated stories, and O’Callaghan and the federation have requested the items to be taken down.”
Updates that include the quote linked to O’Callaghan were still visible on the platform on Monday, while a Meta spokesperson stated that “we are investigating the request”.
The federation declined to make more details.
United States transgender athlete Lia Thomas is banned from competing in the female category under present governing body rules and could not change the rules in the run-up to the Paris Olympics.
The international federation put in place regulations in 2022 which prohibit anyone who has gone through “any part of puberty as a male” from the women’s competition.
O’Callaghan is a five-time champion after beating teammate Ariarne Titmus in the 200-meter freestyle championship race at the 2024 Paris Games along with participating in several team victories.
The young champion earned a 200m freestyle world title to her honours in Tokyo in recent months.
O’Callaghan was racing in a World Cup short course meet in the United States recently and defeated the opponents by almost two seconds to take out the 200-meter event in a Commonwealth record of one minute 50.77 seconds.
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