Australian Swimming Organization Acts to Stop Fabricated Quotes Attributed to Champion Swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan
The national swimming federation has taken steps to suppress labeled as “fabricated stories” and “false comments” associated with swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan about trans swimmer Lia Thomas.
Online Posts Circulate Inaccurate Claims
A statement attributed to O’Callaghan but not published from her online platforms has appeared in posts on Meta platform Facebook, as well as on Twitter, and suggested the elite athlete would not participate in the 2028 Olympics if a transgender swimmer is permitted to race.
These words falsely attributed to O’Callaghan featured a provocative statement that “sharing a pool with Lia Thomas is absolutely an disgrace and a embarrassment”.
Formal Statement from the Federation
The national body supported the Olympic champion in a release titled with “fabricated comments attributed to Australian team member Mollie O’Callaghan”.
“Currently, we see fabricated quotes attributed to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan seen on social media posts,” the federation announced recently.
“Never has O’Callaghan spoken to media and made statements on this issue.
“Facebook’s parent company has been notified of the false information, and O’Callaghan and the federation have requested the content to be deleted.”
Current Status and Context
Content that include the quote credited to O’Callaghan were still circulating on Facebook on the following day, while a platform official commented that “we are looking into the demand”.
The organization refused to give further comment.
American trans swimmer Lia Thomas is prohibited from participating in the women’s events under present international swimming guidelines and was unable to challenge the policies in the period before the Olympic event.
The international federation put in place guidelines in 2022 which prohibit anyone who has experienced “any part of male puberty” from the female category.
Regarding Mollie O’Callaghan
O’Callaghan is a multiple champion after beating teammate Ariarne Titmus in the freestyle event final at the recent Olympics along with contributing to several team victories.
The young champion added a 200-meter freestyle world title to her achievements in Tokyo in the summer.
O’Callaghan was participating in a short course short course meet in the United States last weekend and beat the opponents by a significant margin to take out the freestyle race in a record time of one minute 50.77 seconds.