Caitlyn Jenner: Lia Thomas Could Have Swam a Lot Faster, But She Didn’t Want to Get Too Much Attention

EXCERPT:

SMITH: "This is Lia Thomas after she won the championship, if we could play it out so we can hear how people --"
[clip starts]
THOMAS: "I didn't have a whole lot of expectations for this meet, I was just happy to be here, trying to race and compete as best as I could."
REPORTER: "You've undoubtedly been under the spotlight over the past few months. How you've been dealing with that and reasoning with everything?"
THOMAS: "I try to ignore it as much as I can. I try to focus on my swimming and what I need to do to get ready for my races and just try to block out everything else."
[clip ends]
SMITH: "So that was Lia Thomas responding after winning the championship."
JENNER: "OK, I -- I get that. She’s tried to block it all out but it’s almost impossible to block that stuff out that she’s doing. I respect her 100 percent. And you know, we live in a free country and to be able to live life authentically it's been the greatest gift in my life and I hope it is the best for her. And -- but also with that comes some integrity about what you are doing. She can’t block it all out because obviously -- I think she could have run -- swam that race a lot faster and she didn’t because she didn’t want to get too much attention."
ROBERTS: "Yeah."
JENNER: "So, yeah, we’ll see how it all works out. I -- I would just love to have the opportunity to talk to her and find out what’s in her head."
ROBERTS: "That would be an interesting conversation to have.”