Elite sports people speaking up!

[Signalbox]

There seems to be an increasing number of sports people speaking up about the problem of males completing in women's sports which is positive. Thought it might be useful to have a thread of those who are risking sticking their heads above the parapet. Obviously the likes of Sharon Davies, Mara Yamauchi and Martina Navratilova have been bravely doing this for sometime but now we appear to have a few current athletes as well who are prepared to risk the mob to ensure women have fair competition. Is it too much to hope for that there will be a snowball effect?

Oberlin College! People need to really read up on their infamous campaign of terror against the bakery.

Why am I not surprised at this sports story? They represent everything rotten at the heart of the elites' crusade to force intersectional analysis social "justice" on us all, women are acceptable collateral damage.

Gosh, someone saying what everyone else was thinking

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12462811/trans-olympic-cyclist-Austin-Killips-shove-scandal.html

Think the Oberlin College woman deserves a thread of her own. A passionate, articulate sports coach prepared to stand up and fight for her beliefs. She’s 56 but I’m guessing still has many years ahead of her as a sports coach - particularly for such a niche sport? But they’re coming for her big time.

Oberlin College was the single biggest peak for me, alongside Emily Bridges at Thundercrit last year.

People should go to Quillette.com, and read about their brazen bullying of the bakery. It changed forever my views on this culture war we're all in.

Not content with trying to put a business out to pasture, they're now victimising individuals like this coach.

Scurrilous is the only word.

The video is heartbreaking. All those colleagues and students are really enjoying their self-righteous bullying. Kim Russell is such a brave woman.

Yes, Inga Thompson is on the money.

Inga hasn't stopped at all. Losing her role just meant she now simply doesn't hold back. I hope that her drawing attention to this means that Killips behaviour is reviewed and any available sanction that can be applied retrospectively is taken. However, I think it will just be that Killips will be seen as getting away with it at the time.

I can start to see how this ends up. The long uphill climb to some sort of normality, allied to more and more public skepticism and kickback.

What we won't get is justice for this period. There'll be mass amnesia, people switching sides invisibly, buck passing, "I was only following orders", "oh, I never meant that", etc.

Killips will be able to blame the cycling authorities, they'll be able to blame doctors, doctors will blame politicians, politicians will say they only wanted to # BeKind.

Obfuscation, being misquoted etc. There'll be no reckoning, just a lost couple of decades and irreparable damage to the Enlightenment brand.

A fencing competitor has slammed the sport's national body for allowing a transgender woman to compete against biological females - and snapping up top awards in two categories.

The trans competitor, Eden Philpot, previously competed in men's events before transitioning to female. She has been competing against biological women since the 2022-2023 season.

In that time, Philpot has scooped up four gold medals, two silver and one for placing fifth and eighth in a matter of months.

The fencer told DailyMail.com that Philpot's success was 'highly unique' because she had scored medals in two disciplines - foil and saber - a feat that is unheard of in the sport.

'No other competitor appears on the podium of both events aside from Eden. I don't think I've seen it in my lifetime of fencing,' she said.

The fencer, who did not want to be identified because she feared repercussions from referees and the national fencing association, said that other coaches and competitors shared her concerns but did not want to speak out because they believed it would be 'futile'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12454551/Fencing-trans-athletes-TAKEN-female-event.html

https://www.iconswomen.com/fencing-petition/

I would dearly love to sign the petition but accusations of transphobia could cost me my job.

I sometimes use my mother’s maiden name for petition signing for that reason.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12552627/England-ladies-angling-team-refuse-compete-world-championships-trans-woman.html

Thanks signal that is an interesting read. So the international comps have become very unfriendly whereas they seemed to have been previously a social group. That must significantly detract from participation in those international competitions.

Interestingly the organisation is doing a review of their policies. I wonder when that is due?

Also interesting that the board is not full of experienced anglers. Yet has been making those decisions and release bonkers statements about no competitive advantage.

It’s just so tragic that all those women have to forgo the opportunity to compete because of one bloody man. It will be interesting to see the policy review. Fingers crossed for fairness and common sense.

The female swimmers at Roanoke College.

👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

https://www.youtube.com/live/MRe5y9IXmic?si=1Exy-zb1COxqeOe0

I've been reading about that; more power to their collective elbow!

Martina just handed British Jiu-jitsu their collective ass. Much reversing of ferrets

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2023/10/16/martina-navratilova-british-ju-jitsu-transgender-policy/

It has been archived.

I particularly liked her use of a screen shot!

MMA / BJJ fighter Ansleigh Wilk getting a hard time on Twitter for standing up for women in sports and calling for transparency and allowing women the choice of not fighting against men.

https://twitter.com/Ansleigh_mma/status/1720177130288414744

Ffs no wonder women are reluctant to speak out. Canadian power lifter April Hutchinson now facing a 2 year ban.

https://twitter.com/Lea_Christina4/status/1721758084803019058

Fucking hell!

presumably she can move to one of the other powerlifting federations?

Fingers crossed she can (and perhaps other women will follow?)

I'm just lost for words.

This, I'm struggling to fathom why they reversed so quickly. It's almost worse than if they hadn't bothered at all because they clearly know it's not fair. Alexander Cunha is a star, I hope she shames them into reversing the policy again. It seems she's not standing alone

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12738301/Women-pool-star-refuses-play-against-not-biologically-female-amid-bitter-row-transgender-competitors.html

Looks like the reversal is likely to be from fear of legal challenge.

Initially, in August, with increasing numbers of trans players applying to play in women's tournaments, the WEPF had put out a joint statement with its main sponsor the Ultimate Pool Group ruling that 'these events will be exclusively open to individuals who are born female.'

But just eight weeks later there was a shock reversal in this decision, which a number of women players have suggested was made under pressure of legal threats from trans competitors.

This bit looks hopeful though. And notably women are increasingly using their name to speak out rather than being anonymous...

Within a week of this announcement more than 60 professional female pool players joined forces through a WhatsApp support group to oppose the changes, the Mail on Sunday has been told.

One player, Lynne Pincher, said: "when I heard the announcement last week I spent most of the day in tears, especially because it came after the announcement eight weeks earlier that it was finally going to be a fair field. I'm worried now about the future of the game for women. If next year we had eight trans players they would probably be in the top eight"