One night after posting the fastest split in the 800-yard freestyle relay, the University of Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas captured her first individual title at the Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Thomas, a transgender woman, produced a winning time of 4:37.32, which was more than seven seconds quicker than the 4:44.83 clocked by teammate Catherine Buroker for second place.

A three-year member of Penn’s men’s team, Thomas transitioned to female during the COVID-19 pandemic and is in her first season as a member of the women’s team.

Lia Thomas' teammates realizing 'they will never, ever be able to beat this person,' Penn swimmer's dad says

UPenn swimmer's dad tells Fox News Digital: 'My daughter hates it. She doesn’t think it’s fair.

EXCLUSIVE: The father of a female swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania team said his daughter and many of her teammates are coming to the sobering realization that they "will never make it" to the winner’s podium as long as transgender swimmer Lia Thomas is still on their team.

The father spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear his speaking out on the issue could bring "actual physical harm" to his daughter and family. He said others aren’t speaking out because they feel like "there's nothing they can do about it. They are stuck."

"Part of the reason these little girls get so excited about this is because they see themselves possibly being [at the Olympics]," he said. "There's a shot that they can do it if they swim hard enough, if they work hard enough, they got it, they can do it. Anybody can do it."

"But now what do you say to your daughter? You got Lia up on the blocks, taking a spot from a cisgender woman on the Olympic team," he continued. "How do I tell my daughter that could be you one day? You can’t. You can never be her."

"Yes, your daughter can still participate in athletics and reap a lot of the benefits of athletics, but she'll never be on the podium," he added.

There are so many other hormones that are different in women and men, just like a protein like collagen," he said. "Collagen is responsible for strength in tendons and ligaments, and it’s responsible for joint stiffness, it’s responsible for all sorts of things. And men and women have completely different levels of the three major types of collagen. So, even with a testosterone limit, the man is going to have an advantage because of his collagen levels and the types of collagen that he has."

He said there’s also a real fear that Thomas will wipe out collegiate records held by Olympians Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin during the NCAA championships, which are set for March 16-19 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta.

"Lia is going to go to the NCAA’s and she’s going to take down Katie Ledecky’s record, she’s going to take down Missy Franklin’s record, and it’s not because she is an exceptional woman," he said. "It's not because she is the pinnacle of female athletics, which Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin are."

"It’s a very difficult situation," he said. "It has not been good for the team. I can't imagine what it's doing for recruiting for the future teams."

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