Transgender marathon runner Glenique Frank, who beat nearly 14,000 women in the London Marathon, has offered to return his finisher’s medal to appease critics.
“If they want me to give my medal back, I’ll say, ‘OK, fine. No problem,'” the 54-year-old runner told the New York Post following backlash.
“If they really think I’ve stolen the place [of a female runner], I don’t mind giving the medal back, because I’ll run again next year for charity.
“But I don’t want to apologize, because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Frank continued, though he went on to recognize the issue.
“I get it … I’m not a woman, I don’t have a womb,” Frank said, according to the Post, though he called his critics "haters."
Frank pointed out that plenty of women beat him, as he came in 6,159th place in the female category, and he didn’t participate as an elite athlete, “so I didn’t steal any money.” If he had competed in the male category, Frank would have reportedly finished 21,579th.
Attention was drawn to the runner after two-time Olympian Mara Yamauchi denounced Frank’s participation and pointed out why it's still unfair to women despite how he finished.
1. Fairness is not determined by a competition’s outcome, but by who is in the category (amongst other things).
— Mara Yamauchi (@mara_yamauchi) April 27, 2023
If an adult enters an U12 race, the adult advantage makes it unfair on ALL the children. If a cyclist uses a motor, it is unfair on ALL the other cyclists, regardless
suffered unfair competition bc of Frank’s male advantage. In the end “only” 13,983 women suffered a worse finish position. Like me in 2012, many women’s results were not affected but they still suffered unfair competition.
— Mara Yamauchi (@mara_yamauchi) April 27, 2023
Second point: the implication of these comments is that
..in 5 years & is now on the cusp of making national teams;
— Mara Yamauchi (@mara_yamauchi) April 27, 2023
- a woman who ran 2:45 in the 55-59 age group🤯.
All of these women are exceptional runners. And many people think their race was just a bit of fun & they don’t deserve fairness. #savewomensports
Frank said when he runs the London marathon again he will enter under "other" or "male" categories, "just to keep everybody happy."
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