The participation of transgender athletes in women's competitions has been raising a delicate debate for years, judging by their theoretical competitive advantages over women of birth. The last athlete who has positioned herself on this matter is the jumper Ana Peleteiro, who chooses to "open the doors" to these people but "in non-professional sport."
"I have trans friends, I think about what they suffer to show how they feel, and they have my support, but the issue of sports competition is delicate," the Galician woman, who was a bronze medalist in the triple jump, begins her argument in El País. the past Tokyo Games, as well as European champion in the same discipline in 2019.
Peleteiro defends that "if you have matured as a man, even if your testosterone levels drop, your bone density and muscle development is different from that of other women." "In athletics, the woman who jumps the most is 15 meters and a peak and the man 18 meters and a peak. The doors must be opened to trans people, but in non-professional sports," he concludes.
The Spanish did not compete last year to be the mother of her first daughter. Her maternity is also a complicated decision for high-level athletes, but in her case she received the support of both the institutions and her brand, Adidas. "It seems important to me to make it visible because there is a lot of fear and misinformation," she explains on the matter.
Peleteiro, who is black, also has no qualms about talking about racism in Spain. "I don't think we are a racist country, but a classist one. Nobody treats a black man badly in a Bugatti. People who say that on a soccer field probably have nothing against a racial person," he said in a statement. reference to the racist insults Vinícius received.
