Cyclist Kristen Chalmers is in hot water with some.
And she’s an overnight hero for others.
The cisgender woman who lost a race to two transgender women said after the race she didn’t care if she lost to trans women.
“It would be ridiculous to say that my life has been ruined by getting third,” Chalmers told NBC News. “I had a great race, and it would have been more boring if it had been a smaller field without such strong competitors in it.”
For that, some — including the usual suspects — have lashed out at her.
“She is a traitor to ethical and fair sport,” said Riley Gaines, while also tweeting that Chalmers was expediting her own erasure. “And she’s a traitor to women.”
Megyn Kelly said it was “infuriating.”
To be clear, this was an amateur race with a whopping five competitors. Despite the UCI policy barring most trans women from competing in the female category, this race didn’t fall under UCI rules.
Cycling, for some reason, has had an extraordinary number of out trans athletes competing or trying to compete. Bridges, in the United Kingdom, was barred from competing in the women’s category ahead of her much-anticipated debut. She had been very successful in the male category before transitioning.
Austin Killips, who has become of the faces of trans women in the sport, has also drawn attention.
The conversation about how to include trans women in the female category continues, with people on every side of the issue debating within the conversation.
According to Chalmers, there is more support for trans athletes in cycling than some people may claim. She told NBC News that she is organizing an open letter in support of the two trans women — Tessa Johnson and Evelyn “Casey” Williamson — and that she has a lot of signatories within the sport.
