Cheaty McCheaterson
The Times has more on Killips’s cheating.
A victory by a transgender cyclist in an elite women’s race has prompted renewed criticism of the UCI’s eligibility rules.
Austin Killips took the title of “Queen of the Mountains” after winning the Tour of the Gila in the United States, a five-stage race that is sanctioned by the UCI, cycling’s international governing body. It is the biggest cycle race won by a transgender rider so far.
Unlike swimming or athletics, the UCI permits trans women who have gone through male puberty to take part in elite women’s events if they have had reduced testosterone levels of 2.5 nanomoles per litre for the previous two years (men usually have ten to 35nmol/l, while a woman’s natural level is usually 0.5 to 2.4nmol/l).
It’s so stupid. Reduced testosterone doesn’t erase all the physical advantages, to put it mildly. This never should have been allowed, not for a second. It just underlines the fundamental indifference to female people that seems to be baked in.
Alison Sydor, a Canadian who was a cycling cross-country world champion and Olympic silver-medal winner, said on Twitter that the UCI’s transgender rules “are not fair to female athletes” and were “passed with no discussion [or] consultation with the people who have to live with these rules today”.
Naturally not; they’re female, so [yawwwwwwn]
[Killips] said on Instagram after winning the tour: “After a week of nonsense on the internet I’m especially thankful to everyone in the peloton and sport who continue to affirm that Twitter is not real life. I love my peers and competitors and am grateful for every opportunity I get to learn and grow as a person and athlete on course together.”
Pig. That “nonsense on the internet” is women objecting to the unfairness of this horrible man taking their prizes.
Another American cyclist, Hannah Arensman, said in a document submitted to a US court that she had retired from the sport after finishing in fourth place behind Killips in the US’s National Cyclocross Championships in November. Footage of the race shows Killips at one point pushing Arensman over as she attempts to overtake.
But that’s just “nonsense on the internet,” right?
I’m amazed by the disingenuousness, the sheer cheek, of his pretending like he doesn’t know he has an advantage over his competitors because of his birth sex.
I can only imagine how discouraging it is for women to see this sort of thing happening, and not being able to talk to the people who are doing this to them. There are enough discouragements for girls to leave athletics and sports when they hit adolescence, this will have an effect on thousands of girls who just don’t see the point in competing if a boy can some in, claim to be a girl and take the medal; and in this case the money. Those bikes and equipment cost a lot of money. I had a friend in Phoenix who cycled professionally until she had an accident falling down a mountain, and her bike was more than $6,000.
It’s not stopping and people aren’t peaking seeing this, probably because it affects women.
Testosterone has gotten such a reputation as some sort of male macho elixir; studies show that may not be the case, but aren’t conclusive. The thing is, the advantages aren’t the presence of the testosterone, it is the effects the testosterone had on the body during puberty.
Testosterone is one of those things like DNA – it is a magic word to people. Somehow the minute you bring it out, everything is solved! DNA shows guilt? Never mind that DNA isn’t that conclusive; the hype in the media is such that no one knows that (well, biologists do, and I imagine some other people, but biologists are unlikely to be chosen for a jury in a case involving DNA). So with testosterone – the MALE hormone, so if it is lowered, the maleness goes away totally…right? WRONG!
Re #3
Yes; Cordelia Fine’s book Testosterone Rex was illuminating to me on that regard.
Sackbut, if you haven’t read her Delusions of Gender, I recommend it. I read Testosterone Rex, too, but in my case I’d been reading a lot on the topic. It did help focus my understanding.
I have read Delusions of Gender. Excellent book and a lot of fun to read.
@1 this guy isn’t above literally using his bike to whack a competitor off her bike (an incident clearly captured on video).
My eyesight sucks.
I’m glad you all can see what’s in the videos, because I can’t. My brain can’t interpret the images to “clearly” see A pushing B, or A using his bike to knock over B. It’s all a jumbled, crowded mess of images to me.