Taylor Lianne Chandler — Michael Phelps' Transgender Ex — Slams Him on NCAA Trans Guidelines. 'A Literal Slap in the Face'
Earlier this month Olympian Michael Phelps told CNN his concerns about current NCAA guidelines that allow transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete against swimmers born female.
"I think this leads back to the organizing committees again because it has to be a level playing field. That's something that we all need. Because that's what sports are. For me, I don't know where this is going to go. I don't know what's going to happen."
"Phelps, the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals, said he simply wants to see fairness across the sport," reports the Daily Mail.
"I believe that we all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin, but I think sports should all be played on an even playing field," Phelps said.
"I don't know what it looks like in the future. It's hard. It's very complicated and this is my sport, this has been my sport my whole entire career, and honestly the one thing I would love is everybody being able to compete on an even playing field."
But, Radar reports, his "transgender ex-girlfriend,�Taylor Lianne Chandler, feels his stance on trans athletes participating in organized sports is both hypocritical and hurtful."
"Chandler — who was born intersex, meaning she had male genitalia but no testicles and a uterus but no ovaries — told�Radar�that her ex's 'opinion' was just that," the site reported, and his comments are a "literal slap in the face."
"He doesn't fully understand the science, advantages or disadvantages," she said, going on to call Phelps "a hypocrite for saying it should be a level playing field."
"He is genetically superior with his 6'7" wingspan, double-jointed ankles and huge feet. His chemical composition allows him to breathe in and fill his lungs and hold his breath longer [than his competitors]," she explained, adding that he also experiences "the chemical advantages of having ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder], which comes�with added strength and endurance."
During his interview, Radar adds, Phelps compared competing as a trans athlete to those who dope to improve performance.
"Even�he�says that he never competed on a level playing field, inferring doping, and they still could not beat him," argued Chandler, who told us that was the comment that "hurt the most."
"That is harsh," she said, adding that Phelps' description of the topic as "complicated" was like "the understatement of the year."
"In that moment of watching and hearing him say those things, it felt like a literal slap in the face," she continued. "I felt like I was good enough to love, lay with and be with, but not be respected or allowed in the women's sport of swimming — like I was not a woman, but rather an alien or God-knows-what. It can't be a woman's sport if it doesn't include all women, period!"
The Independent reports that "Ms Thomas began competing on the University of Pennsylvania women's team for the 2021 - 2022. Under NCAA rules, trans women can compete in women's sports leagues after having been on testosterone suppression for more than a year, a requirement which the 22-year-old complied with while the 2020 Ivy League swim season was canceled due to Covid."
The university has said it stands behind the swimmer. The NCAA has since changed its rules to require athletes to document "sport-specific testosterone levels."