In the most dramatic uprising against biological males competing in women's sports, the Virginia women's swim team condemned its own university for for allegedly forcing them to accept a transgender athlete at their events.
The entire Roanoke College women's swim team held a press conference in which they said they felt betrayed and abandoned after last month's a former member of the men's national team has joined their ranks. An unnamed trans swimmer placed in the top 10 at a similar men's conference.
While the case has clear parallels to the case of Leah Thomas, who caused a global furor last year by becoming the Roanoke students' decision to take collective action, the first trans athlete to win a national collegiate title is unprecedented. This is the first time that a team of female athletes has publicly come together to defend their rights to participate in sports based on gender.
“I never expected to be overwhelmed by a male teammate who now wanted to compete with me and my swimmates and break our records,” said Bailey Gallagher, a 21-year-old captain of the senior team, who emphasized that she initially supported swimmer's transition. Lily Mullens, 20, asked: “Why bother trying to swim in competition with a biological male? Our defeat is written in biology.”
Mullens explained that they were shocked and confused when their coach told them that a trans swimmer would be part of the women's team. She and her teammates say they were pressured to show solidarity and describe how the swimmer expressed suicidal thoughts after being told the situation was “biologically unfair.”
Kate Pearson, 19 years old, said, “Our experience was an emotional rollercoaster ride that I don't want any girl to ever go through.” She noted that the differences in results were so dramatic that in the first training session together, the trans athlete was close to breaking her collegiate record of 23.93 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle. The swimmer has since left the team.
Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines spoke at a women's rights rally earlier this year Photo: AP/Darren Abate
This episode, Pearson argued, was a “betrayal.” She and her teammates initially asked their coach for help, but were told Roanoke could compete without them if necessary. Mullens, well aware of the emotional impact of such comments, said: “I doubted my purpose in swimming. Why would I even try to swim if I had to compete against a trans swimmer? In private conversations with my team, I have found that we are all experiencing the same anxiety, heartache and fear.”
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is so strong in its support for transgender people that Thomas, a swimmer who passed going from being ranked 554th in the US to defeating every female competitor in the country, even being nominated for a Woman of the Year award.
“Not one administrator came to ask us how we were doing or how we were doing after the integrity of our sport was stolen from us,” Pearson said. “The college has followed NCAA policies that set women like us aside.”
In response to the Thomas firestorm, World Aquatics, swimming’s global governing body, took action last year to limit international women’s racing exclusively those who were born female. “This policy protects Olympians,” Gallagher said. “But where is the NCAA and USA Swimming? Why don't they protect the rest of us?
Although Roanoke College insists that no official decision was made to add a trans athlete to the women's team, the swimmers say it was presented as a fait accompli.
Martina Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon champion, applauded the young women for taking matters into their own hands. “Well done, girls,” she said. “This is exactly what it takes to change the rules.”
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