Caitlyn Jenner, widely considered the world’s most well known transgender woman, has given her take on the debate over trans people and professional sport.
The 74-year-old won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Olympic Games competing as Bruce Jenner before transitioning to Caitlyn in 2015.
Now in a wide-ranging interview alongside former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies with The Telegraph in the UK, Jenner has given strong views about trans women and sport.
Earlier this month, trans golfer Hailey Davidson was banned from the professional NXXT Women’s Pro Tour after the competition changed its eligibility rules
The Tour released a statement announcing any competitor that was not “a biological female at birth” was ineligible to participate.
Jenner strongly agrees with that sentiment, declaring hormone therapy does not make for a level playing field between females and transgender women.
“(I’m) someone who went through a complete change and I can still hit a golf ball 280 yards (256 metres),” she said.
“I know the effects of (female) hormones on the body, it does have a little bit of an effect but it’s not a major effect, and certainly not enough to make it even.
“I have been pushing here to go back to chromosome tests. If they continue down this road it will be pretty much the end of women’s sport as we know it.”
Davies, who competed against the East German doping regime when winning silver in the pool at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, is also concerned for the future of women’s sport.
”We have such a small piece of the cake,” Davies said, referencing the differences in sponsorship between men and women in sport.
”And now we’re supposed to move over for what in most cases is mediocre male athletes who are identifying as females who just think that they have the right to take our opportunities away.”
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