Australian Swimming Organization Acts to Halt Fake Quotes Attributed to Champion Athlete Mollie O’Callaghan
Swimming Australia has taken steps to stop described as “fabricated stories” and “fabricated quotes” attributed to swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan regarding trans swimmer Lia Thomas.
Social Media Posts Circulate Inaccurate Claims
A statement linked to O’Callaghan but not shared from her online platforms has appeared in updates on Facebook, as well as on the platform X, and claimed the Olympic champion would not participate in the 2028 Olympics if a transgender swimmer is permitted to participate.
These words wrongly credited to O’Callaghan included a provocative remark that “sharing a pool with Lia Thomas is really an disgrace and a disgrace”.
Official Response from Swimming Australia
Swimming Australia backed the star swimmer in a announcement titled with “false statements linked to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan”.
“At present, there are made-up comments attributed to Dolphin Mollie O’Callaghan seen on online content,” Swimming Australia said this past Sunday.
“At no stage has O’Callaghan been interviewed and made statements on this issue.
“Meta has been informed of the fabricated stories, and O’Callaghan and the federation have requested the content to be removed.”
Latest Developments and Context
Content that feature the comment linked to O’Callaghan were still visible on the platform on Monday, while a platform official said that “we are looking into the request”.
The federation declined to make further comment.
United States trans swimmer Lia Thomas is prohibited from competing in the female category under existing World Aquatics rules and was unable to challenge the policies in the period before the Olympic event.
The international federation enacted regulations in 2022 which ban anyone who has experienced “any phase of puberty as a male” from the women’s division.
About Mollie O’Callaghan
O’Callaghan is a five-fold gold medal winner after defeating fellow Australian Ariarne Titmus in the 200-meter freestyle final at the recent Olympics along with being part of four relay team triumphs.
The 21-year-old secured a 200m freestyle global championship to her accolades in Japan in the summer.
O’Callaghan was racing in a World Cup short course meet in the United States last weekend and outpaced the competitors by almost two seconds to win the 200-meter event in a record time of 1:50.77.
