A female cyclist has told The Times that the inclusion of transgender woman Emily Bridges in the entry list for the National Omnium Championships in Derby on Saturday, could lead to the death of female sport.
The unnamed woman said that her fellow athletes were afraid to speak out publicly for fear of losing their careers.
According to The Times:
A source at the team of a rider lining up against Bridges, 21, told The Times that they feared women’s cycling would be “decimated” by the inclusion of transgender athletes.
But they said female cyclists were cowed into silence on the matter because they were worried about being labelled transphobic.
Bridges has been included on the entry list for the National Omnium Championships in Derby on Saturday along with the Olympic champion Dame Laura Kenny and 19 other riders.
The source said: “My concern, shared by pretty much everyone else, is that any sport which is strength-affected is at risk of being decimated.
Science is science. Once you’ve passed puberty, there are changes [to the body] irrespective of the testosterone levels.”
They added: “We allow the girls to make their own positions … but as a rule of thumb, I know they are, in general, concerned for the death of female sport. They cannot speak out — you say anything and you are considered transphobic.”
Asked why they too did not want to speak on the record about Bridges entering the women’s race, the source said: “I’ve got a career to look after.”
Incredibly, Bridges won a men’s race at the British Universities’ championships in Glasgow just last month. He is allowed to compete in women’s races because he complied with requirements to have testosterone levels below five nanomoles per litre for a period of 12 months.
It gets better. Before transitioning, Bridges set a national junior men’s record over 25 miles.
It’s very simple. Bridges is a man.
Women should refuse to compete with him. That’s how this madness ends.
