Canadian Transgendered Olympian

I remember discussing in class the various viewpoints on transgendered athletes. When I saw this article I was compelled to read further into this topic. This particular article talks about Kristen Worley, a Canadian cyclist. She is preparing for her Olympic debut at the Bejing games later this year. The International Olympic Committee has made strides toward making the Olympics as fair and politically correct as possible. However, there are those who do not necessarily agree with the consensus and feel that broad terms such as "appropriate official authorities must legally recognize the athlete's new sex," really leave a lot open to individual discretion. Worley is Canadian and her country responds very well to accepting many different types of people. Canada is so advanced in this that her birth certificate was legally changed from male to female to reflect her true identity after her transition. I wanted to post this to allow people to see the types of movements being made in other countries to accept differences and decrease the amount of ignorance and discrimination that occurs when governmental agencies fail to accept such differences. I think that because transgendered athletes in the professional or competitive field is relatively new, it stirs up a lot of confusion and mixed emotions. However, with the rules that are implemented, it is hard to say that someone cannot compete when they have had hormone replacement and are biologically reflecting the intended gender. I believe all people should have a right to participate in any athletic environment. After further research and understanding of transgendered people I think more information will be available to people so that everyone has some sort of level of understanding on this topic. The unfamiliarity of something or someone different always throws people off guard. Maybe we all need to take a trip to Canada and realize that we should not judge but rather embrace diversity.

Nicole G 

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