With caps covering their hair, goggles over their eyes, and sleek suits down to their knees, the eight swimmers on the pool deck looked indistinguishable from one another. They crouched in identical poses: One foot back, head down, rear up, hands dropped forward on the starting block. Together, they waited for the starting signal.
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It was the evening of March 18, 2022, the women’s 200-yard freestyle final at the N.C.A.A. Division I swimming and diving championships. Small and stacked with international talent, the competition is harder to qualify for than the U.S. Olympic trials.
That night, the atmosphere in the arena was charged with a tension distinct from the usual intensity of athletic competition. “I’ve never felt a crowd root against anybody before,” said Dan D’Addona, who covered the meet for Swimming World Magazine.
The target was Lia Thomas, a quiet senior from the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Thomas swam competitively for years as a member of the men’s team, before beginning estrogen treatment to transition in 2019, and later switching to racing with the women. Over the course of the 2021-22 season, she became national news, an avatar for churning unease about gender, power, safety, sports, politics, feminism and biology.