Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee on a Friday episode of her podcast Unmuted with Marsha.Gaines, who tied for fifth place with Thomas during the championship's 200-yard freestyle, has been outspoken about her swim rival after being denied the fifth-place trophy, which officials gave to Thomas to hold during the podium presentation last month.Although Thomas placed fifth in the race, the UPenn swimmer also came first in the 500-yard freestyle during the championships and made history as the first known transgender athlete to win a Division One national championship in any sport."The NCAA official came up to me, and he just said, 'Hey, that was a great swim.
We only have one fifth-place trophy,' which I understood, I get how that works—they only account, you know, for one fifth-place winner.