On the trans issue, President Thomas Bach doesn't seem to have anything helpful to say. Photo: Shutterstock/Laurent Gilleron
At breakneck speed, sport has become a prisoner of the blind fanaticism of transgender ideology. Now, belatedly, they are discovering that they can throw off the yoke of noisy, militant activity just as quickly. It's only been 76 days since Austin Killips, a biological male and rookie cyclist who just started transitioning in 2019, blogging about the process called «Oestro Addict», won the Women's Gila Tour in New Mexico. The injustice was so egregious and unforgivable that even Michael Engleman, director of competitions, told The Telegraph: «It could kill the sport.»
His warning was finally heeded and the International Cycling Union decided to limit the female category to only those born female. It is a relief in these hectic times to find a global governing body that is willing to admit what is staring it in the face: that there can be no scientific or ethical defense for mediocre men who carry all the benefits of male puberty to take prizes from women. It only took one example — Killips stealing Gila glory from Marcela Prieto, the young woman who placed second — to speed up the change.
But is «change» really the right word here? For what we are seeing is essentially a fix, a rejection of the oft-repeated «trans women are women» principle and all of its detrimental effects on the integrity of women's sport. Yes, the UCI is to be commended, but only in the sense that they finally saw the madness in trying to appease a tiny minority at the expense of half the population.
Marion Clinier, French road racing champion, presented a UCI poll last year to show that 92 percent of female cyclists think there should be an outright ban on transgender riders. And the board ignored it, convinced that polishing their corporate reputation when included was more important. So be careful with standing ovations.
It's amazing how the custodians of an elite sport have ever allowed themselves to be subservient to a few trans lobbyists armed only with illogical messages and loud voices. How did it happen? How did we get to the point where agreeing with the majority opinion could be dismissed as an unfashionable choice? For answers, look to the International Olympic Committee, whose recklessness on the issue of transgender people is at the heart of all this chaos.
In 2004, the IOC quietly approved a policy for the participation of post-surgery transsexuals in women's events, expecting such a situation to be «extremely rare». In 2015, he introduced testosterone suppression below 10 nanomoles per liter, acting on the advice of Dr. Joanna Harper, a British transgender scientist who stated: «Transgender people only want to enjoy the same things that everyone else does.» Neither Harper nor the slumbering seekers in Lausanne seemed to realize that there was a twisted moral calculus in favoring the pleasures of one small group over the rights of all women to fair sports.
I have seen the cowardice of the IOC in this matter up close. At the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, their medical director, Dr. Richard Budget, said that “everyone agrees that trans women are women,” despite the fact that so many women disagree with anything like that. Entering the weightlifting hall at the Games, where recently transferred from New Zealand, 43-year-old Laurel Hubbard took the place of an 18-year-old Nauruan, was to encounter a lot of leaflets from the lobbying group Athlete Ally, left on the tables of journalists as instructions on the use of terminology. Reading this meant marveling at the purest propaganda. Under «terms to avoid»? “Born male/born female. No one is born with a gender identity.”
As a rule, the IOC cracks down hard on anything that resembles ideological language. He considers the Olympic Games an apolitical area and will go to any lengths to keep it that way. Except in the case of Hubbard, they remained silent, content to give way to the loud slogans of the transagitators.
Even in an increasingly fragmented sporting landscape, the IOC continues to wield enormous power. In the most difficult puzzles, his word is often treated as law. And yet, on the transgender issue, President Thomas Bach does not seem to have anything useful to say by shifting the burden of responsibility to individual sports. The result is complete confusion. To illustrate, take the furor in Paris last week at the World Paraathlete Championships, where grown-up male Valentina Petrillo took bronze in the women's 400m visually impaired final at age 49.
The insulting absurdity of a runner 18 years older than any other competitor who finished on the podium was evident. But officials said they were powerless to intervene, shrugging their shoulders that the Petrillo situation would have to be handled «in accordance with IOC guidelines.» Unfortunately, the IOC's default tactic is to dump the dispute squarely on them. It is a perfect Kafkaesque circle of spineless and spineless bureaucracy.
If he had the will or the courage, the IOC could, in one fell swoop, resolve all disputes about transsexuals in sports. Alas, for Bach, who prefers glib photo shoots like bringing the two Koreas together on one hockey team, it all seems like too much work. One gets the impression that he would rather qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize than be remembered as a women's champion.
The IOC has left a leadership vacuum that is vital for every sport to fill. Athletics, swimming, and now cycling have all done it, but others shy away from it. World Rowing indicates that she will wait until after the Paris Olympics next year before making a final decision. Why? The male performance advantage is not some abstract theory, but an undeniable reality. Undoubtedly, the time has come for action, the time for justice for women.
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