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?

https://twitter.com/FondOfBeetles/status/1648959210330234880

"I commented on this at the time, but deleted while awaiting confirmation that Payton was injured by a TW (even though it was pretty obvious).

Payton has now spoken up about the injuries she received after being smashed by a TW opponent."

Depressing.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nba/article-12022063/Brittney-Griner-slams-push-ban-trans-women-competing-against-biological-women-sport.html

Just incomprehensible, isn't it. All for head pats.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2023/05/02/british-cyclists-scared-trans-athletes-austin-killips/

https://radiotour.us/f/killips-gila-victory-incites-firestorm-of-controversy

"Women cyclists are threatened with being cancelled, losing sponsorship, reported to their bosses if they hold a job outside of cycling or reporting to Safe Sport if they say anything that isn't 100% in sport," Inga Thompson said, 3-time Olympian and two-time third place finisher at the Tour de France. Thompson has been a strong advocate for the protection of fair play in women's sport.
"It is being used as a weapon to silence women, making them comply with trans identified males and forced into roles of supporting them, as domestiques to help them win."

The price of speaking up:

After claims of intimidation and personal attacks, Cynisca Cycling part ways with board member and trans-exclusion advocate Inga Thompson | Cycling Weekly

What a hit job. Shameful from Cynisca and Cycling Weekly.

I think, on another thread, someone posted that Cycling Weekly is edited by a tw who competes against women.

That is very concerning to read. Inga was very brave to speak out.

Tara Seplavy, deputy editor of Bicycling Magazine perhaps?

That's the chap person, my mistake. Thanks for the correction @Helleofabore I should have realised it was 'bi'.

Twitter thread for article, the 'journalist' didn't even bother reaching out to the victim of the hit piece and has blocked her.

https://twitter.com/cyclingweekly/status/1656569606276890625?s=20

Pathetic. Snide, dishonest and spiteful. Good on Inga Thompson.

”The development team states that because of the association with Thompson, the team lost out on media exposure as "respected cycling journalists refused to cover the team" while "qualified and competent people have declined job offers out of fear of crossing or appearing to align themselves with her."”

meaning media have punished Inga and anyone who is associated with her for campaigning to make the sport fairer and safer for women….

Honestly what a disgraceful article.

how has diversity, equality and inclusion come to mean men taking things that belong to women?

"Our mission has been and always will be that of advancing women at all levels of cycling and doing so in a framework of equality, fairness, and tolerance. Despite the negativity fostered by Ms. Thompson, we are succeeding and will push forward faster without her."

Yes Cynisca seems to be an organisation started by two men who are centring males in their efforts to ‘advance’ women.

I saw a tweet earlier that had a screenshot from Instagram with a caption. A tw saying something about 'stole from the cis', might have been cycling (there were bikes and bike helmets) and a trophy, one of those squeezy bottle honeybees on a wooden base. Alternatively, I may have dosed off and had a nightmare. I've not been able to find it.

Found it, yaayyy-ugh

https://twitter.com/jennifer_1ee/status/1656403804986949633?s=20

Wow, sounds like some of them are turning it into a competition on who gets to steal the most women's trophies. Shame on the various sport associations.

And he called it correctly, it's stealing and these men are all shameless thieves.

There's a name in the tweet thread, no idea if it's accurate. Unsurprisingly, the named person's account can't be viewed (that doesn't mean they've named the correct person). I'm not the most computer literate but that tweet is all I've seen about this.

Okay, it seems to be real. There was even a mixed category.

http://results.performancetiming.com/results.aspx?CId=16541&RId=683&EId=3&dt=2

If this is the same person - and putting together the name and the photo on that tweet it looks like it is - they are also a runner and very keen on inclusion - for SOME people, anyway….

The Telegraph are reporting that back in 2015 a man claimed to be a woman called Sarah & took a woman rower's place in the Cambridge University women’s reserve crew at the 2015 Boat Race. Therefore a young woman was lost her place in this prestigious event and was deprived of a Half-Blue and a lifetime membership of the Cambridge University Boat Club.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rowing/2023/05/11/transgender-rower-sarah-gibson-womans-cambridge-boat-race/alled

Crikey even in 2015 people were too afraid to tell this man to f off.

“Cambridge didn’t know what to do,” said a source familiar with the situation in 2015. “Gibson already knew how to row, having learned to row at an elite boy’s school. The university thought they had to accept people exactly as they declared themselves to be. Gibson only had to say: ‘I’m a woman, I’m eligible for this crew.’ There was no mechanism for proving testosterone levels. Cambridge thought they had to be inclusive, and so they just accepted Gibson at face value.

“Everyone knew Gibson was biologically male. But they thought they weren’t allowed to ask personal questions about testosterone levels, or being legally female, or surgery. They believed that was far too personal and intimate. Nobody thought that they could challenge.”

Inga Thompson does not sound a woman to mess with, they could end up regretting this.

Going back to the picture of the cheating individual in the racing photo, the caption sums up the root of all this nonsense. 'A plant-based ultra-runner' oh please. Enough with the labels. Unless someone sporty can tell me it's a relevant & essential description?