Today, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by the female athlete who in 2019 lost the NCAA Division II national women's title in the 400m hurdles to a male athlete who previously had competed in the men's division without much success.
Recalling the national women's championship race she lost nearly six years ago as a sophomore at East Texas A&M University to a male senior from Franklin Pierce who had adopted a trans gender identity the previous year, Minna Svärd writes
The video from that event shows me racing in lane 8. In lane 4 is CeCé Telfer of Franklin Pierce University—who competed for that school’s men’s team in 2016 and 2017. Craig Telfer ranked 390th among NCAA Division II men. CeCé Telfer destroyed the women’s field and crossed the finish line almost two seconds before me, becoming the first known transgender-identified athlete to win an NCAA title.
That made me the first collegiate woman to be told her victory was worth less than a man’s feelings. I cried a lot that day—not because I lost, but because of how I lost.
I’m a people-pleaser and don’t like to upset people—a stereotypical female quality that trans activists often exploit to suppress dissent. It took me a year before I found the nerve to post my feelings about the race on Instagram. When Cecé Telfer alerted supporters to my post, I was denounced as a “transphobe” and racist and received harassment and threats.
Whilst praising recent directives and policy changes aimed at tightening up eligiblity rules to keep males out of women's NCAA competition and other female sports from now on, Svärd said these moves aren't enough. She wants the records amended:
The official results of past competitions should be corrected to align with reality. Male competitors should be removed and the rank of affected women increased accordingly.
Cecé Telfer went on to write a book and was profiled by the New York Times magazine in a lengthy article titled “For My People’: A Transgender Woman Pursues an Olympic Dream.” That dream collapsed in 2021 when he failed a testosterone test.
I don’t expect I’ll ever be profiled in a fawning magazine feature. But I did accomplish one thing that will always fill me with pride: In 2019 I was the fastest female 400-meter hurdler at any NCAA Division II school. It’s been five years since that honor was stolen from me. I want it back.
