Aussie Olympics star Mollie O'Callaghan gets unwittingly caught up in scandal over trans swimmer Lia Thomas

Mollie O'Callaghan has been caught up in a scandal over trans swimmer Lia Thomas after fake quotes from the Australian Olympic champion were widely circulated on social media.

Swimming Australia released a statement after a fabricated quote from O'Callaghan stating, 'I will not participate in the 2028 Olympics if that MAN, Lia Thomas, is allowed to compete.'

The made-up quote also used the terms 'insult' and 'disgrace' and appeared on platforms including X, Instagram and Facebook. 

The Aussie governing body advised fans that Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – has been told to take down any posts featuring the false information.

'There are currently fabricated quotes attributed to Dolphin Mollie O'Callaghan appearing on social media posts,' a Swimming Australia statement read.

'At no stage has O'Callaghan been interviewed and provided commentary on transgender athletes.

'Meta has been advised of the fake news, and O'Callaghan and Swimming Australia have requested the posts to be taken down.'

At the time of writing, several posts featuring the fake quote were still up on platforms including X and Instagram.

Thomas, who is a trans woman, suffered a blow in June last year when she failed in an attempt to overturn strict new rules that prevented her from competing against biological women.

She took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the hopes that she would be allowed to compete at the Paris Olympics.

The ban also includes the World Championships and was enacted after Thomas kept beating her biological female competition, triggering claims of unfairness.

After coming out to her family as transgender in 2018, Thomas competed as a woman at the 2022 National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships and won the 5400-yard freestyle event, while also taking fifth and eighth in the 200 free and 100 free. 

The CAS ruled that Thomas was ineligible to challenge World Aquatics' policy on trans athletes.

In 2022, the international governing body changed its policy so transgender women can only compete in the organisation's female races if they have completed their transition by the age of 12.

It was also announced that an 'open category' will be set up for transgender athletes to compete against one another at events, including the World Aquatics Championships, World Swimming Championships, and the Swimming World Cup. 

Australian Olympic gold medallist Emily Seebohm said she was happy a decision had finally been made, and added many athletes had been too scared to speak up on the matter.

'It's such a hard topic, no one wants to be the first one to say anything because you're scared of cancel culture,' she said.

'That's such a thing now, if you say one wrong thing you're done.

'It was a matter of once one Australian athlete said something, it was like let's stand together because we all feel the same it's just we were all too scared to be the first one to say anything.'

Members of World Aquatics heard from a transgender task force comprising leading medical, legal and sports figures, which first convened to discuss the issue after the International Olympic Committee urged individual sports federations to create guidance on transgender athletes in November 2021.

The policy was passed with a 71 percent majority after it was put to the members of 152 national federations with voting rights.

Around 15 per cent voted no to the policy on eligibility in the men's and women's competition categories, while 13 percent abstained.

'I do not want any athlete to be told they cannot compete at the highest level,' World Aquatics president Husain Al-Musallam told a congress of his organisation today.

'I will set up a working group to set up an open category at our meets.

'We will be the first federation to do that.'