Olympian Caitlyn Jenner, who transitioned to female long after winning a gold medal in the 1976 Montreal Games, argued that biological men should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports.
“First of all, number one, biological boys, I’ve said from the beginning, should not be playing in women’s sports,” Jenner told Fox News on Wednesday. “We need to protect women’s sports.”
Jenner discussed UPenn Swimmer Lia Thomas, “who has brought a lot of attention to this issue” by shattering NCAA women’s swimming records.
The former decathlete fully respects Thomas’ “decision to live her life authentically,” but noted that the choice “comes with responsibility and some integrity.”
“I don’t know why she’s doing this,” Jenner continued. “It’s not good for the trans community … It’s also not good for women’s sports.”
The former “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star noted that the trans community has “very difficult and very challenging issues, including a significantly higher suicide rate, but said that Thomas has clear cut advantages over female competitors.
“She knows when she’s swimming she’s beating the competition by two laps. She was born a biological boy,” Jenner remarked. “She was raised as a biological boy. Her cardiovascular system is bigger, her respiratory system is bigger, her hands are bigger, she can swim faster. That’s a known.”
Jenner said that the NCAA needed to “make the right decision” about transgender students participating in women’s sports. The organization voted on Wednesday and came up with a policy that kept their hands clean of making any decision.
Under the new guidelines, each individual sports governing body will determine if they allow transgender participation and the NCAA will defer to their judgement. If a sport does not have an international federal policy, criteria established by the International Olympics Committee will take over.
“Approximately 80 percent of U.S. Olympians are either current or former college athletes,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said after the vote. “This policy alignment provides consistency and further strengthens the relationship between college sports and the U.S. Olympics.”
The former California Republican gubernatorial candidate feels sorry for “other athletes that are out there, especially at Penn or anybody she’s competing against, because in the woke world you gotta to say ‘oh, my gosh, this is great, and on and on and on.’ No it’s not.”
“All of this woke world that we are living in right now is not working,” she added.
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