The debate started when the International Olympic Committee solemnly initiated the consideration of trans athletes’ participation in the event. In 2004, the sporting behemoth pushed the roadblocks away and made the path clear for trans athletes. However, the juggernaut was still there in the form of genital surgery and legal certification proving gender change. On that estimate, the NCAA made the astounding step to make LGBTQ athletes less hindered. 

It regulated that one year of testosterone subduing would be enough to earn the trans athletes’ tickets to enter. But that invited flak from Daley Thompson, the Olympic grandeur to indicate loopholes exemplifying individuals who won enormous success in the NCAA. 

Olympic awardee Daley Thompson stirs the participation debate 

On the eve of the Olympic trial, the eligibility fiasco for USA swimmer Lia Thomas continues. If the 2022 NCAA Division 1 women’s swimming contest was her first Bechdel test, the latest spitchcock came from an Olympic legend, Daley Thompson. Raising questions about the eligibility, the Heptathlon hero scoffed, “Nothing they can do will change that: they are always going to outperform biological women.”. His argument centered on the same hormone suppression technique that the NCAA listed as necessary for the participation of prized athletes. “no pill can wipe out the benefits that come from growing up biologically male in terms of muscular and skeletal strength” was his bone of logic, reported on the gbnews. com. Through the points, Thompson tried to establish that trans athletes who participate in the women’s event enjoy the upper hand for their physical abilities. 

However, that argument couldn’t make him a vituperative agent against the community, nor the ‘feminist’. The double Olympic medalist confessed, “What I do know is that I’m not transphobic or a misogynist”. But his fight is for equal participation of genders, where he strongly backed his predecessors, Martina Navratilova and Sharron Davies’ arguments. But unlike them, Thompson suggested a solution to award every bothered side to give relief. 

The middle ground 

From his sporting experience, Daley Thompson extracted, “My belief is that sport should have a women’s section and a new, open class where transgender women would be welcomed and could compete fairly.” Moreover, he also lambasted the serious notation where female participation might change after facing concerted opposition from the trans athletes in the sport and their support voices off the court. 

Read more: After Lia Thomas, Another Trans Athlete Makes Headlines Over Fresh College Record

However, Daley Thompson also loathed the attacks that unfurled at the fellow author, J. K. Rowling. Rowling’s arguments on the issue miffed several LGBTQ communities. But for Thompson, that didn’t make a tremor. Rather, he suggested taking a bold stand on the issue even after facing the repeated scourge. “If we become afraid to tell the truth, we really are in trouble”, he conceded. 

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