Two transgender individuals who were born as men came first and second in a women’s cycling event in Chicago last week, prompting calls for stricter rules on such events to be implemented.
The Daily Mail reports that Tessa Johnson, 25, won first place in the Women’s SingleSpeed and Cat Half categories of the Chicago CrossCup, while Evelyn Williamson, 30, placed second in the SingleSpeed at the October 7 contest.
The pair, who are clearly biologically male, continue to dominate at women’s cycling events, with Williamson winning 18 titles in the women’s category in the past six years, and Johnson also winning several after previously competing, and failing to succeed, in men’s categories.
Rubbing it in the faces of female athletes even further, the pair compete under the team name ‘TS-ESTRODOLLS’, referring to the female hormone estrogen.
The event has previously drawn scores of women to enter, but this year only four actual women entered:
Johnson beats the women by 2 1/2 minutes, 4 women enter the race that usually draws over 20 women. @usacycling is killing off our grassroots development of women, ignoring UCI policy. https://t.co/hqEjdhVjiB
— Inga Thompson Fdn OLY
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(@ithompsonfdn) October 9, 2023
The event organisers say that they follow the rules of USA Cycling’s Transgender Athlete Participation policies, calling it “stupid” to discriminate on the basis of gender identification.
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