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

Hungarian Olympian Réka György, who lost a place in an NCAA swimming final after competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, criticized Virginia Gov.

Abigail Spanberger’s 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Glenn Youngkin, but the regulatory action was withdrawn in July after Spanberger took office.

"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 told 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 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 14–0 in August 2025 to begin the regulatory process.

The Youngkin administration subsequently approved a Notice of Intended Regulatory Action, which was published that November.

SUPREME COURT MAKES RULING ON TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN'S SPORTS 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 governor’s office and was later published in the Virginia Register of Regulations.