Swimming Body Acts to Stop Fake Comments Attributed to Champion Athlete Mollie O’Callaghan
The national swimming federation has acted to suppress what it calls “fake news” and “made-up statements” attributed to Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan regarding transgender athlete Lia Thomas.
Online Content Spread False Statements
A comment linked to O’Callaghan but not posted from her online platforms has surfaced in updates on Meta platform Facebook, as well as on X, and implied the Olympic champion would boycott in the Los Angeles Olympics if a transgender swimmer is cleared to compete.
The statement falsely attributed to O’Callaghan included a provocative remark that “being in the same lane with Lia Thomas is absolutely an insult and a embarrassment”.
Official Response from Swimming Australia
The organization backed the gold medalist in a statement headlined with “fabricated comments associated with Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan”.
“At present, there are made-up comments attributed to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan circulating on social media posts,” the federation said on Sunday.
“Never has O’Callaghan been interviewed and made statements on transgender athletes.
“The platform has been advised of the fabricated stories, and O’Callaghan and Swimming Australia have asked the items to be removed.”
Current Status and Context
Posts that feature the quote linked to O’Callaghan were still circulating on Facebook on the following day, while a Meta spokesperson said that “we are reviewing the demand”.
Swimming Australia refused to give additional statements.
United States transgender athlete Lia Thomas is prohibited from racing in the women’s division under existing international swimming rules and failed to overturn the regulations in the lead up to the recent Games.
The governing body enacted guidelines in recent years which forbid anyone who has gone through “any part of male development” from the women’s competition.
About Mollie O’Callaghan
O’Callaghan is a five-time Olympic gold medallist after beating compatriot Ariarne Titmus in the 200-meter freestyle championship race at the Paris event along with being part of four winning relays.
The 21-year-old earned a freestyle world title to her achievements in Japan in recent months.
O’Callaghan was racing in a international competition in Indiana over the weekend and beat the field by a significant margin to take out the freestyle race in a Commonwealth record of one minute 50.77 seconds.