Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will sign a proclamation declaring Florida native and second-place swimmer Emma Weyant the winner of last week’s 500-yard freestyle event in the Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships; Weyant finished second place behind transgender athlete Lia Thomas.
“Weyant, who is a freshman at the University of Virginia, clocked a time of 4:34.99 last Thursday, falling behind Thomas during the final stretch of the 500-yard event,” the Daily Wire reports.
Governor Ron DeSantis shared his thoughts on Twitter along with the proclamation:
“By allowing men to compete in women’s sports, the NCAA is destroying opportunities for women, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud. In Florida, we reject these lies and recognize Sarasota’s Emma Weyant as the best women’s swimmer in the 500y freestyle.”
“If you look at what the NCAA has done by allowing basically men to compete in women’s athletics, in this case, the swimming, you had the number one woman who finished was from Sarasota and then Weyant, she won the silver medal, she’s been an absolute superstar her whole career,” DeSantis said. “She trains, I mean, to compete at that level is very, very difficult. And you don’t just roll out of bed and do it. That takes grit, that takes determination, and she’s been an absolute superstar and she had the fastest time of any woman in college athletics.”
“Now, the NCAA is basically taking efforts to destroy women’s athletics,” he continued. “They’re trying to undermine the integrity of the competition, and they’re crowning somebody else the woman’s champion and we think that’s wrong…we’re going to be doing a proclamation saying that Emma is the best female swimmer in the 500 meter freestyle, because she earned that.”
By allowing men to compete in women's sports, the NCAA is destroying opportunities for women, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud.
In Florida, we reject these lies and recognize Sarasota's Emma Weyant as the best women's swimmer in the 500y freestyle. pic.twitter.com/tBmFxFE3q6
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 22, 2022
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