No, the NCAA didn’t give transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’ medals to Riley Gaines

Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among a group of college athletes who sued the NCAA in March for allowing a transgender woman to compete at the 2022 NCAA national championships.

That swimmer, the University of Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas, became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title that year, and she and Gaines tied for fifth in the 200-yard freestyle final.

But claims the NCAA decided to transfer Thomas’ medals to Gaines are unfounded. 

"NCAA’s final decision ‘all medals owned by Lia Thomas will be shifted to Riley Gaines,’" a Nov. 14 Facebook post said before offering an unattributed quote: "‘We made a huge mistake.’" 

An image with the post showing Thomas and Gaines said: "NCAA shifts all medals from Lia Thomas to Riley Gaines."

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

NCAA spokesperson Greg Johnson told us the post’s claims aren’t true. 

Plus, Johnson said, there weren’t any medals awarded in the Division I women’s swimming and diving championships in which Thomas and Gaines competed. 

"The top eight finishers in the final of all events receive trophies," Johnson said. Gaines and Thomas both received trophies, not medals, for their fifth-place tie.

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But we found no evidence, such as credible news reports or public statements from Gaines or the NCAA, to corroborate the claim. NCAA records for 2022 still show Thomas’ first-place finish for the 500-yard freestyle, an eighth-place finish for the 100-yard freestyle and a fifth-place finish — tied with Gaines — for the 200-yard freestyle.

This claim appears to have originated on a self-described satire site. A Dec. 8, 2023, post on SpaceXMania, said: "‘It’s done’: NCAA shifts all medals from Lia Thomas to Riley Gaines."

The post is labeled "satire."

In January 2022, the NCAA Board of Governors voted "in support of a sport-by-sport approach to transgender participation that preserves opportunity for transgender student-athletes while balancing fairness, inclusion and safety for all who compete," according to a Jan. 19, 2022, statement on the NCAA’s website. The new policy, effective starting with the 2022 championships, requires transgender student-athletes to document sport-specific testosterone levels beginning four weeks before their sport's championship selections. As of the 2022-23 academic year, transgender student-athletes need to document testosterone levels at the beginning of their season, six months later, and four weeks before championship selections.

We rate claims the NCAA transferred Thomas’ medals to Gaines False.