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Swimming Australia has taken steps to shut down described as “false information” and “made-up statements” associated with Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan regarding transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

Social Media Posts Spread False Statements

Remarks credited to O’Callaghan but not posted from her official profiles has been seen in content on Facebook, as well as on X, and claimed the elite athlete would boycott in the 2028 Olympics if a transgender athlete is cleared to participate.

These words falsely attributed to O’Callaghan contained a inflammatory statement that “competing in the same pool with Lia Thomas is truly an affront and a shame”.

Official Response from the Federation

Swimming Australia supported the gold medalist in a announcement headlined with “fake quotes associated with Australian team member Mollie O’Callaghan”.

“Currently, we see fabricated quotes attributed to team member Mollie O’Callaghan appearing on online content,” the federation announced recently.

“Never has O’Callaghan spoken to media and given remarks on this issue.

“Facebook’s parent company has been informed of the fake news, and O’Callaghan and Swimming Australia have asked the posts to be taken down.”

Current Status and Context

Content that include the comment attributed to O’Callaghan were still online on the platform on Monday, while a platform official commented that “we are reviewing the demand”.

The organization did not offer more details.

American transgender athlete Lia Thomas is barred from racing in the female category under present World Aquatics regulations and failed to overturn the regulations in the period before the recent Games.

World Aquatics put in place regulations in recent years which ban anyone who has undergone “any phase of puberty as a male” from the female category.

Regarding Mollie O’Callaghan

O’Callaghan is a five-fold gold medal winner after beating compatriot Ariarne Titmus in the freestyle event championship race at the Paris event along with contributing to several team victories.

The 21-year-old added a 200-meter freestyle world championship crown to her honours in Japan in the summer.

O’Callaghan was racing in a World Cup short course meet in the United States over the weekend and defeated the opponents by a significant margin to claim the 200-meter event in a record time of one minute 50.77 seconds.