rocketrosie

@SunsPSD: thank you for this! this is a great example that trans athletes, athletes and the governing bodies will need to work together in the future to keep competition fair - just like kate is doing for example. admittedly i know nothing about swimming other than athletes being super tall and broad shouldered. and obviously if somebody is transitioning after having gone through puberty that person will keep the advantage of being taller than their competitor. so we are nowhere at a perfect point here, somebody also mentioned boxing where of course "body composition" has to be taken into consideration. the main thing though is being open to change and that will allow us to find ways how sports can be kept fair and respectful for everyone.

@shorttravelmag: i wasn't shouting at you when writing this, apologies if i came across aggressive. all i know is that it's easy for us to sit on a high horse when we were lucky enough to be born with the right biological features and our orientation fits the norm. it's not as if being gay or transgender for example are recent inventions that somebody thought might be a cool idea. why would anybody want to be seen as "abnormal". people have always been like that and society has been way more open before than it is now (also also more narrow-minded). my aunt was born with female features however is in fact genetically male. This was only discovered when she was well in her twenties and you know what it is painful to see what she had to go through as society treated her like a freak. and she was/is so socialized into being a woman that she cannot change her life anymore. there are people out there every day who think they are worth nothing because they don't fit the norm. trans athletes like kate want a fair competition and are working with the official bodies to come up with solutions. everythings changing and moving all the time and that's a good thing.

@mybaben: guess like our bodies our sport also belongs to men. amen.

@hamncheez: i would. don't forget that transition changes your body through hormone treatments and all the other medical treatment you have to endure even if one decides not to fully transition. so should one of these riders transition this won't be done within just a few months and they wouldn't be stood at the start gate being the male racer they used to be. they would of course still possess skillsets like line choice or cornering and all that kind of stuff, but they would most certainly not be male riders anymore.

@shorttravelmag: because you go through a transition to be who you truly are. this would mean we question the womanhood of trans women - which in fact is the problem of our society. the fact you have to identify yourself as "i was born a woman" and "i was born a man" needs to be overcome. only then will we be able to find ways of competing in sports together.

Thank you for this. I strongly feel that we need to stop questioning womanhood by suggesting different categories. We are all women! End of story. And all of us who were lucky enough to be born with a body that reflects who we are need to keep in mind, how tremendously hard and scary the transition process must be. From potentially losing your family, friends, being ousted - to the medical treatments and potential operations. The fact you haven to explain yourself all the time. The fact that even though we don't mean to we all use hurtful terminology due to how we were brought up and taught. I also don't have enough understanding of biology and genetics, I do understand though that NOBODY in this world will transition just because they want to win races. And I would hope that we all show respect when talking about members of our community - and by that I mean the human race.

so. what's the interesting news?