The top swimmer broke the silence on sharing the locker room with Thomas

Monica Berzinska, a swimmer at the former University of Pennsylvania, said she was handed over the locker next to Lia Thomas when the transgender athletes joined the women’s swimming team at 2021. Barzinska earlier knew as Will Thomas to the athlete, who was a member of the men’s swimming team in his.

“He was not very social,” Burzynska told Fox News Digital, saying that he was only short, passing a conversation with Thomas.

He thought that Thomas had already graduated when his team settled the news that the athlete would have been infection to join the women’s team starting in the 2021-22 season.

Click here for more sports coverage at foxnews.com

When the weather finally began, and the Thomas became a stability in the women’s locker room, Burzinska often retreated in the corner of the room to change. The second time, Burzynska at the same time when she turned to matching with Thomas’s shower. Eventually, Burzynska opted to convert only in stalls or throughout the hall into a family locker.

“Around around Lia, I was not at risk,” Burzinska said seeing him about the possibility of a trans athlete.

Burzynska has never talked about his experience of being in a team with Thomas so far, recently amidst the news that UpenN agreed to apologize to all women swimmers, to save Thomas’ program records, and adopt a new policy that applies strict biological definitions for men and women.

He said that the news gave him “a deep sense of peace and verification”.

“Not only for me, but for all the girls of the team, in the swimming world and all the girls in the game world. And I think this decision, it brought back – at least for me – the feeling of fairness that was lost,” said Berginska. “Women records are of women and that protecting the integrity of women’s game still matters.”

Nevertheless, Burzinska and others memories of tolerating gender.

Burzynska identifies as someone with conservative values, but says she is feeling “compassion” for transgender people. When he was placed next to Thomas in the locker room, his views changed.

“I thought it should be terrible to feel that you are stuck in the wrong body. Just make contact as to who you are really,” Burzinska said. “You have these issues that are from far and you never think they are going to touch you personally. As long as you are not on a team with Lia Thomas and your locker is directly next to this biological man. And you never believe that you will face this issue directly.

“And then when this happens, your thoughts change where you still feel sorry for this person because they are clearly so deeply lost. But then it turns into more, ‘Okay, it’s not appropriate,” Burginska said.

As a native of colonia, New Jersey, Burzinska reported that she grew up in a liberal environment with a major Pro-LGBTQ spirit. Those values ​​followed her when she went up in the dark blue city of Philadelphia.

“We have a lot, so much, how should I call it, such as deep LGBTQ appearance in campus, where campus buildings or darmatries, US flag, trans flag, LGBTQ flag instead of blowing up, dormies instead [were flown]Whenever I meet Penn, I see that it is like this huge skyscraper, and they have the biggest rainbow flag that you can imagine, “Berzinska said.

“So I think, in a sense, you can say that it encourages if a person is very confused about his identity, and then there is a group that seems so accepting, loves so much, loves you that whatever you want can happen … that can be like this, yes, encourage people to bend in that way.”

At that time, the team was forced to silence and present Berzinska, and other women swimmers allegedly by UPEN administrators.

The three other former Thomas teammates, Grace, Estabroke, Margot Kakzorski and Ellen Holmquist alleged that university officials pressurized him not to speak about his views about being publicly joined Thomas.

“UPNN administrators told women that if women spoke publicly about their concerns about Thomas’s participation in the women’s team, the reputation of those who complained in the team of Thomas would be tainted with transfobia for the rest of their lives and they would probably never be able to do a job,” sued.

Upenn Lia Thomas agrees to follow Trump’s mandate to protect women’s game after investigation

Burzynska, a generous New Jersey, raised in the city, was already accustomed to the consequences of sharing conservative values ​​in a generous setting.

Burzynska misses, from a young age, often criticized for “orthodox or republican values”.

“I was feeling forever. And even up, I think it is every university at this point, but very, very leftist. And so I was ready to embrace it, that my thoughts will not be welcomed, because, I am most of my life’s conservatives. My beliefs are in faith.”

Burzynska recalled a futile conversation with his head coach, Mike Shannur, when he faced him with concerns about being in a team with Thomas.

“This was our long meeting, I don’t know, about two hours long. And he said, ‘Listen, Monica, I understand all your concerns. They are all valid. I don’t think any of them will stop you from continuing on your senior year and having a successful senior year shows you to know a success. I think you can’t do anything about it.

“I told him in that meeting, ‘What are you talking about? Like, how is this fair?” And their response was, ‘This is not appropriate, but if you have a problem, come to me … don’t talk about it.

Burzynska said that he never took Schnur on that proposal, assuming that he would not do anything about it anyway.

Nevertheless, he alleged that he looked at his comrades from a distance with Shanur.

Then came to the administrators who allegedly pressurized the swimmers of women who objected to Thomas to go into a Pro-LGBTQ consultation. Burzynska said it called the counseling session “brainwashing meeting”.

He never participated in sessions.

Click here to get Fox News app

Burzynska has moved beyond the situation since then and has embraced his life and career beyond this.

Nevertheless, she admits that parts of the situation created a “trauma” in it, and she is grateful that the administration of President Donald Trump made a priority to create results on UPEN.

“They [women’s] Penn’s rights were clearly compromised, so it is surprising that he paid attention to it and Trump took it so seriously, “Burzinska said.

Fox News has reached Apen to a response to Digital Burzinska’s statements.

Follow Fox News Digital Sports Coverage on X, More membership Fox News Sports Hodl Newsletter,