Hungarian Olympian Réka György, who lost a place in an NCAA swimming final after competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, criticized administration for abandoning a proposed regulation intended to protect female sports and private spaces.
György was one of three female swimmers who petitioned the Virginia Board of Health to enact the regulation last year. The board unanimously approved the petition under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, but the regulatory action was withdrawn in July after Spanberger took office.
“Its really sad for me because I had the petition filed a year ago, and Youngkin approved it and wanted to take the next step and protect female athletes and female spaces in Virginia,” György told .
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“I dont like to see that people are using their power, especially political power, to make decisions and hurt other people. And also, its coming from a female.”
György added that she was “really disappointed” by the decision.
György filed the petition in April 2025 alongside former Roanoke College swimmers Lily Mullens and Carter Satterfield. It asked the Board of Health to adopt regulations preventing biological males from participating on female-only athletic teams or entering female-designated spaces where women and girls could be undressing.
After receiving more than 2,300 public comments, the board voted 14â0 in August 2025 to begin the regulatory process. The Youngkin administration subsequently approved a Notice of Intended Regulatory Action, which was published that November.
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However, the Spanberger administration withdrew the action on July 30, after an additional public-comment period had concluded. The withdrawal was not accompanied by an announcement from the governors office and was later published in the Virginia Register of Regulations.
The official notice said the State Board of Health would not proceed “upon review of statutory authority.”
György questioned why the administration did not call greater public attention to the decision.
“I have a feeling that shes afraid of the backlash of people, what theyre going to say or think,” György said. “Other than that, I dont know what her motivation is.”
Györgys advocacy stems from her experience at the 2022 NCAA Division I Womens Swimming and Diving Championships. The Virginia Tech swimmer finished 17th in the preliminary round of the 500-yard freestyle, one place short of advancing to the consolation final.
Thomas, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, qualified for the championship final and went on to win the national title.
“Because the rule-makers let him compete in the womens category, I got bumped out from the final,” György said. “I got 17th, and I wasnt allowed to swim in the finals. It ended up being me who got knocked out of the finals at night.”
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György represented Hungary at the 2016 Rio Olympics and was a two-time ACC champion and two-time NCAA All-American during her career at Virginia Tech. She said she had devoted approximately 18 years to swimming before her final collegiate championship appearance.
“I put everything
