Swimming Federation Acts to Stop Fabricated Statements Attributed to Star Athlete Mollie O’Callaghan

Swimming Australia has moved to suppress described as “false information” and “fabricated quotes” associated with Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan about trans swimmer Lia Thomas.

Social Media Posts Circulate False Statements

A comment credited to O’Callaghan but not shared from her online platforms has been seen in posts on Facebook, as well as on X, and claimed the elite athlete would refuse to compete in the 2028 Olympics if a transgender athlete is cleared to compete.

The statement falsely attributed to O’Callaghan featured a controversial remark that “competing in the same pool with Lia Thomas is truly an affront and a shame”.

Official Response from the Federation

The national body stood by the Olympic champion in a statement headlined with “fabricated comments attributed to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan”.

“At present, there are made-up comments attributed to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan circulating on platform posts,” Swimming Australia announced recently.

“Never has O’Callaghan given an interview and given remarks on transgender athletes.

“Meta has been notified of the false information, and O’Callaghan and the federation have requested the posts to be deleted.”

Current Status and Background

Posts that contain the statement credited to O’Callaghan were still circulating on Facebook on the following day, while a company representative commented that “we are looking into the request”.

The organization did not offer additional statements.

American transgender athlete Lia Thomas is barred from competing in the female category under current international swimming rules and was unable to challenge the regulations in the lead up to the recent Games.

World Aquatics enacted rules in 2022 which ban anyone who has gone through “any part of male development” from the women’s division.

About Mollie O’Callaghan

O’Callaghan is a five-fold champion after outpacing compatriot Ariarne Titmus in the freestyle event championship race at the recent Olympics along with being part of several team victories.

The young champion added a freestyle global championship to her achievements in Tokyo in the summer.

O’Callaghan was competing in a international short course meet in Indiana last weekend and defeated the field by almost two seconds to take out the freestyle race in a record time of 1:50.77.