This theoretical scenario about transitioning just to win medals seems like a strawman argument. And the question of “who is stealing medals” is loaded.
…But let me back up a bit to where we probably agree.
Of course these athletes don’t want to take steroids, because… these are not the type of people who want to do that.
I’d like to believe that trans athletes do want to win, AND that they have good intentions. (not trying to steal medals).
Let’s put ourselves in their shoes - these athletes get to participate in the sport they love at a high level, and their transition is affirmed. So this is the best of both worlds for them.
If it turns out there is still an advantage left over, however small or large, I don’t think the althetes would want to acknowledge it for fear of their opportunities being taken away. This is understandable, no?
As it turns out, estrogen doesn’t overwrite absolutely everything. Skeletal structure (taller, longer arms), lung capacity, and heart size for example… these can all give an athletic advantage.
I think these are important to consider.
11111one11111@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Part 1: Ima preface this by saying what anyone does with their life and their individual pursuit of happiness is their fuckin right and I will never stop fighting for your ability to do so… now the dreaded “with that being said…”
So I’m not going to spend a ton of time going through every story and source because there is so much toxic shit sources around this topic so I am going to keep the list simple and only guna list widely known sources of stories about athletes winning for Olympic sports. The list itself is pulled from a shitty source so fuck citing that source, I will only provide the sources for the articles each story was pulled from. I took tons of time to get the links formatted and checking the stories and sources so if the vernacular used in the actual list is not universally appropriate, please just disregard and read the story being linked. The linked sources for each story, I think are all applauding the trans athlete. *not Olympic athletes, just sports that are in the Olympics as far as I know.
Women’s basketball – A 50-year-old, 6-foot-6-inch man, who played on a college men’s team 30 years prior, played on a women’s junior college basketball team.
Women’s handball – A male athlete, who formerly played on an NCAA Division III women’s soccer team, now plays for Team USA Women’s Beach Handball.
Women’s bodybuilding – A male who had competed in men’s bodybuilding in the past started competing as a woman.
Women’s cricket – A male athlete competed on a women’s cricket team in England, and another male athlete previously did so in Australia.
Women’s cross country – A male runner competed on an NCAA Division I women’s cross country team and was named the conference’s “Women’s Athlete of the Week.” Running seems to be a talent where the gap between men and women is wider, even though I thought it was one of the sports where women had faster world record times than men but like I said not trying to spend tons of time researching cases because there are tooo many toxic as fuck sources for every good source. Including the story about the transgender runner who broke two women’s track and field records for New York college
Women’s cycling – A male athlete won gold in the women’s 200-meter sprint in both the 2018 and 2019 Masters Track Cycling World Championships. Another male cyclist first competed in the women’s category in 2017.
Women’s mountain biking – A male athlete who previously competed in the men’s open division won back-to-back national championships in the women’s elite division in 2018 and 2019.
Women’s power lifting – A male power-lifter competed as a female and broke several records before being disqualified.
Women’s skateboarding – A 29-year-old male athlete competed in a women’s street skateboarding competition in New York City and beat out a 13-year-old girl for first place.
Women’s surfing – A male athlete who previously won a Western Australia state surfing championship in the men’s division competed in the women’s division in 2022 and won two women’s state championships.
Women’s swimming – A male swimmer who competed on the men’s team for three years began competing on the women’s team and won a 2022 NCAA Championship in the 500-yard freestyle event. Another male swimmer competed on the men’s team for three years before competing on the women’s team and recording the fastest women’s times in three events at the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Championships as an exhibition swimmer.
Women’s track and field – Two male athletes dominated girls’ high school competitions in Connecticut. A male athlete won first place in the women’s mile race at an NCAA Division I conference championship. And another male college athlete won the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Division II women’s national championships. As well as the story of Ada Gallagher who set new records at Track Championship. This doesn’t even seem possible: trans high school track star sparks fury after winning girls’ triple jump by staggering 8 feet](aol.com/trans-high-school-track-star-174914172.ht…)
UN Report on balance of medals won by females vs females *If I read this correctly, it is fucking terrifying the UN could be so dysfunctional that a report done by a single person and no peer reviews or fact checking is able to get this much attention much-less even be released to the media by the UN.
NewDayRocks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
To anyone reading this, know that this guy is just posting Gish Gallop and misunderstanding the assignment.
The question was which transfem Olympians this ruling protects against. As in, people who are switching from MtF to gain a competitive advantage by abusing the rules to steal medals?
The very first example this guy cites is a 50yo MtF who joined some tiny school basketball team… to play basketball. Even in the game cited she played poorly and their team lost. They are not a competitive team in any sense.
OP is purposely trying to pad out a list to make something a problem that isn’t. Somewhat ironic because thats basically the whole trans athlete issue summed up.
webadict@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Do you not think a cis-female 52-year old former athlete and ex-Navy could not play college basketball as well or better than Gabrielle Ludwig? Mission College didn’t go to playoffs the one year that Gabrielle Ludwig played 30 minutes a game.
Do you… Do you think older women are shit at basketball?