‘I am an athlete and I just want to race competitively again’: Trans cyclist Emily Bridges speaks out after British Championship ban saying, ‘No one should have to choose between being who they are and participating in the sport they love’

6 comments

1. Only, you’re not being stopped from participating in cycling.

2. I mean, really.
   You are a woman who has an unacceptable level of performance-enhancing steroids floating around your system.

   The fact that these are naturally produced should make no difference.

   Trans-women are women.
   and women get banned from competing due to elevated levels of testosterone.

3. Unless being who you *were* during puberty gives you an unfair advantage over female athletes who didn’t gain the benefits of being male for 18 years.

   Then you *do* need to make a choice. Do you pursue the sport you love or give it up to live as the gender you think you are.

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6. Some medical conditions, or the treatments for those conditions, preclude you from participating in elite sport.

   That isn’t new.

   There were issues around disabled runners using blades competing in the normal Olympics because the treatment for their condition may have given them an unfair advantage. Ultimately, it didn’t look like it did, they were never competitive, so the issue kind of went away. But had they been winning you can be sure it would have been much more controversial.

   Ultimately, adult women are not just men with lower testosterone. Particularly in this case, where she has not been on the drugs for all that long, and it’s unlikely the benefits of increased muscle mass etc will have disappated. She was competing (and winning) as a man just a few months ago, that just doesn’t feel right.