Olympic legend Daley Thompson has said he fears girls will be driven out of sport by the inclusion of transgender athletes within female categories.
Thompson, a double Olympic gold winning decathlete, compared the trans row engulfing sport to a 25-year-old athlete competing in an under-16s race.
The 64-year-old, who joined by a host of athletes and academics for the Inclusion Delusion podcast, said: ‘You only get one chance to win that medal, stand on that podium, make a final.
‘You wouldn’t let a 25-year-old compete in an under 16’s race. Why do we want to disadvantage 51 per cent of the population? Why do we want to take away ambition from our daughters?
‘It affects everyone in the sporting food chain whether you are talking about making a final or getting to a semi final or maybe a scholarship.
Thompson, a double Olympic gold winning decathlete, compared the trans row engulfing sport to a 25-year-old athlete competing in an under-16s race
Thompson has followed fellow former Olympic champion Sharron Davies in backing the campaign for Fair Play for Women. Pictured: The former athlete at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London in May 1980
Gender-critical Harry Potter author JK Rowling is also a supporter of the campaign for Fair Play for Women
‘And it might actually stop people participating because they don’t feel they have got a chance so they go and do something else.’
He has followed fellow former Olympic champion Sharron Davies in backing the campaign for Fair Play for Women, which is also supported by gender-critical Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
Ms Davies, 60, said: ‘This is about sex discrimination, because sex is real. We have age categories, we have weight categories in boxing. These are all very important to spread success fairly and safely across society.
‘By including transgender women in a category that is designed for female equality you are excluding the whole group of people that category was designed for so you will be excluding females from their own races, that is not inclusion.’
She yesterday warned the trans row in sport is ‘unfair’ on aspiring female athletes.
The retired swimmer, an outspoken critic of trans athletes competing against women, has backed the decision to prevent Emilie Bridges from racing against female riders because ‘we are physiologically different people’.
The British cyclist has been at the centre of the ongoing debate following her attempts to race against females last year, after previously competing as male at junior level.
But British Cycling this week moved to change their current men’s category to an ‘open’ category, where transgender women can compete against other male-born riders, while the female category will be reserved for those who were female at birth.
Speaking to LBC, Ms Davies said: ‘ ‘I don’t think Emily Bridges should be allowed to compete with women. I think she should be allowed to compete, absolutely, and it’s really important we make all sport inclusive.
‘However, having a female category and an open category enables everyone to do sport fairly. What sort of message are we sending to young girls if we say to them that males are due and worthy of fair sport, but females are not worthy of fair sport. What sort of message is that for any young aspiring athlete?
Bridges posted a statement on Instagram in the wake of the news breaking that argued British Cycling were ‘furthering a genocide’ against trans athletes
Siân Longthorpe, 43, completed last weekend’s Porthcawl Parkrun in a record 18 minutes and 53 seconds on Saturday
‘Yes I feel sorry that Emily has gone through what she has over the last couple of years. However, I feel more sorry for all those young girls who are expected to move over within their own category of sport.’
It comes as Siân Longthorpe was also last week revealed as the trans athlete who ‘smashed to smithereens’ a women’s Parkrun record.
Ms Longthorpe, 43, was living as a married man until just over four years ago.
She completed the previous weekend’s Porthcawl Parkrun in a record 18 minutes and 53 seconds on Saturday – a full one minute and 13 seconds ahead of her closest rival Deb Roberts.
The outcome of that race in West Wales on May 20 came to national attention four days later when the result was cited by Mara Yamauchi, a former British Olympian, as an example of what she believes is the exclusion of women athletes and their achievements in the name of being ‘inclusive’.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12139477/Olympic-legend-Daley-Thompson-warns-girls-driven-sport-inclusion-trans-women.html
