Olympic swimmer Réka György calls out Virginia Governor Spanberger for withdrawing feminine sports activities regulation

Hungarian Olympian Réka György, who misplaced a spot in an NCAA swimming remaining after competing in opposition to transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, criticized Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration for abandoning a proposed regulation meant to guard feminine sports activities and personal areas.

György was one in every of three feminine swimmers who petitioned the Virginia Board of Health to enact the regulation final yr. The board unanimously authorised the petition underneath former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, however the regulatory motion was withdrawn in July after Spanberger took workplace.

“It’s 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 instructed OutKick.

VIRGINIA GOVERNOR ABIGAIL SPANBERGER QUIETLY ROLLS BACK YOUNGKIN’S PLANS TO PROTECT GIRLS’ SPORTS

“I don’t like to see that people are using their power, especially political power, to make decisions and hurt other people. And also, it’s coming from a female.”

György added that she was “really disappointed” by the choice.

György filed the petition in April 2025 alongside former Roanoke College swimmers Lily Mullens and Carter Satterfield. It requested the Board of Health to undertake laws stopping organic males from collaborating on female-only athletic groups or coming into female-designated areas the place ladies and women might be undressing.

After receiving greater than 2,300 public feedback, the board voted 14–0 in August 2025 to start the regulatory course of. The Youngkin administration subsequently authorised a Notice of Intended Regulatory Action, which was printed that November.

SUPREME COURT MAKES RULING ON TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

However, the Spanberger administration withdrew the motion on July 30, after a further public-comment interval had concluded. The withdrawal was not accompanied by an announcement from the governor’s workplace and was later printed within the Virginia Register of Regulations.

The official discover mentioned the State Board of Health wouldn’t proceed “upon review of statutory authority.”

György questioned why the administration didn’t name larger public consideration to the choice.

“I have a feeling that she’s afraid of the backlash of people, what they’re going to say or think,” György mentioned. “Other than that, I don’t know what her motivation is.”

György’s advocacy stems from her expertise on the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. The Virginia Tech swimmer completed seventeenth within the preliminary spherical of the 500-yard freestyle, one place wanting advancing to the comfort remaining.

Thomas, a organic male who identifies as a transgender lady, certified for the championship remaining and went on to win the nationwide title.

“Because the rule-makers let him compete in the women’s category, I got bumped out from the final,” György mentioned. “I got 17th, and I wasn’t allowed to swim in the finals. It ended up being me who got knocked out of the finals at night.”

THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!

György represented Hungary on the 2016 Rio Olympics and was a two-time ACC champion and two-time NCAA All-American throughout her profession at Virginia Tech. She mentioned she had devoted roughly 18 years to swimming earlier than her remaining collegiate championship look.

“I put everything into swimming that I had,” she mentioned. “The 2022 NCAA Championships was my senior year in college, so I was ready to retire from swimming, but before I did that, give my best. I had everything that I was capable of putting into practices to prepare myself to give my best at that competition.

“And the possibility to truly swim within the remaining was taken away.”

György also recalled sharing a women’s locker room with Thomas during the championship meet.

“You have been in simply fixed worry,” she said. “You had no thought when he was going to enter the locker room.”

György explained that putting on a high-level racing suit can take between 15 and 25 minutes, preventing swimmers from simply changing quickly and leaving.

“I used to be all the time wanting behind my shoulder as a result of I had no thought when my privateness was going to be robbed away,” she said. “You attempt to cowl your self, which often you don’t do since you are surrounded by different females and also you don’t have that concern. But that competitors was completely different.”

The experience ultimately prompted György to become an outspoken advocate for sex-separated athletic competition and private spaces.

“I simply had this sense that I needed to converse up as a result of, clearly, the individuals who have been in control of that competitors didn’t do something to guard us females,” she said. “One day, perhaps I’ll have a daughter, and I don’t need my daughter to be in a state of affairs the place I needed to share the locker room and compete in opposition to a male.”

György, who continues to live in Virginia, joined the petition effort after being contacted about the controversy involving Mullens, Satterfield and the Roanoke College women’s swimming team.

In 2023, members of the team objected when a transgender student sought to join the women’s roster. Roanoke College later said the student had chosen not to compete.

György said she has not yet contacted Spanberger because she only recently learned the regulatory action had been withdrawn, but she plans to seek a conversation with the governor.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I need to inform her that I hope she sees the place I’m coming from,” György said. “I hope she sees the place different individuals are coming from after we are attempting to guard little women and females in sports activities and women-only areas.”

“Title IX was created for a purpose,” she added. “I actually do hope that she goes to observe this rule, and she or he goes to face up for ladies in Virginia.”