Australian Swimming Body Acts to Halt Fake Comments Linked to Star Athlete Mollie O’Callaghan

The national swimming federation has taken steps to suppress described as “false information” and “made-up statements” linked to Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan about transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

Online Posts Circulate Fake Statements

A statement linked to O’Callaghan but not published from her official profiles has been seen in updates on the social media site Facebook, as well as on X, and suggested the swimming star would refuse to compete in the Los Angeles Olympics if a transgender athlete is allowed to compete.

The quote falsely attributed to O’Callaghan contained a controversial statement that “competing in the same pool with Lia Thomas is absolutely an disgrace and a disgrace”.

Official Response from the Federation

The organization stood by the star swimmer in a statement labeled with “fabricated comments linked to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan”.

“Currently, we see made-up comments attributed to team member Mollie O’Callaghan seen on platform posts,” Swimming Australia stated this past Sunday.

“Not at any point has O’Callaghan been interviewed and made statements on trans swimmers.

“Facebook’s parent company has been advised of the fake news, and O’Callaghan and the federation have requested the content to be removed.”

Current Status and Context

Content that contain the statement attributed to O’Callaghan were still visible on the platform on the following day, while a platform official commented that “we are reviewing the request”.

The federation refused to give more details.

United States trans swimmer Lia Thomas is banned from competing in the women’s division under existing international swimming guidelines and failed to overturn the policies in the lead up to the recent Games.

The international federation put in place guidelines in 2022 which forbid anyone who has gone through “any phase of puberty as a male” from the women’s competition.

About Mollie O’Callaghan

O’Callaghan is a five-time champion after beating teammate Ariarne Titmus in the 200-meter freestyle championship race at the Paris event along with participating in four winning relays.

The young champion secured a freestyle world championship crown to her achievements in Tokyo in the summer.

O’Callaghan was racing in a World Cup short course meet in Indiana last weekend and outpaced the competitors by a significant margin to win the freestyle race in a Commonwealth record of one minute 50.77 seconds.