Swimming Federation Takes Action to Halt Fabricated Comments Linked to Star Swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan
The national swimming federation has acted to suppress what it calls “fake news” and “false comments” attributed to swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan about transgender athlete Lia Thomas.
Online Posts Spread False Claims
Remarks attributed to O’Callaghan but not shared from her online platforms has been seen in content on Meta platform Facebook, as well as on the platform X, and suggested the swimming star would refuse to compete in the 2028 Olympics if a trans athlete is cleared to compete.
The quote falsely attributed to O’Callaghan featured a provocative comment that “competing in the same pool with Lia Thomas is absolutely an disgrace and a disgrace”.
Official Response from the Federation
Swimming Australia backed the star swimmer in a statement titled with “fake quotes associated with Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan”.
“At present, there are fabricated quotes attributed to team member Mollie O’Callaghan appearing on social media posts,” Swimming Australia announced on Sunday.
“At no stage has O’Callaghan given an interview and given remarks on this issue.
“Facebook’s parent company has been notified of the false information, and O’Callaghan and the federation have demanded the items to be removed.”
Latest Developments and Background
Updates that include the comment linked to O’Callaghan were still visible on the platform on Monday, while a platform official stated that “we are reviewing the appeal”.
The federation did not offer further comment.
United States transgender athlete Lia Thomas is banned from competing in the women’s division under current World Aquatics rules and failed to overturn the policies in the period before the Olympic event.
The international federation enacted guidelines in 2022 which prohibit anyone who has gone through “any part of puberty as a male” from the women’s competition.
About Mollie O’Callaghan
O’Callaghan is a five-time Olympic gold medallist after beating fellow Australian Ariarne Titmus in the 200-meter freestyle championship race at the recent Olympics along with being part of four winning relays.
The 21-year-old added a 200-meter freestyle world title to her achievements in Tokyo in the summer.
O’Callaghan was competing in a international competition in the United States recently and defeated the field by nearly two seconds to claim the 200-meter event in a Commonwealth record of a record time.
