Pablo Torre

And you can see and feel the tension in this building.

Okay, so we're in Atlanta.

This is Georgia Tech's pool.

It's March.

Outside the facility, there are anti-trans protesters because the most notorious star in women's college swimming at the time is Leah Thomas.

Leah Thomas was a swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania men's team for three years.

She transitioned during college, and then COVID came around.

She took a year off, and by the time she came back, she was eligible for the women's team under NCAA policy, which at the time let trans women compete after being on testosterone suppressants for 12 months.

But there was a problem once she came back and started competing on the women's team.

She was winning.

One of the swimmers who I talked to agreed to go on tape on the condition that we modulate her voice.

She was actually there at the NCAA 2022 championship.

And she says that the women on her team were obsessing over Thomas.

Is she going to be in our locker room?

I'm going to look at her when we're in our locker room.

So was Riley part of this buzz?

She was being such a bitch about the whole thing.

But I just know that like her and Lars and some of the other coaches would just talk about like how disgusting it was and unfair and they just couldn't believe it was happening and they didn't want to be in the pool or around her and all of this.

Just kind of stuff like that.

And so Leah's first race, by the way, was the 500-yard freestyle, which Riley Gaines was not competing in.