On Thursday, AP reported that CeCe Telfer, a transgender runner, has not qualified for the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic trials, due to failure to meet World Athletics requirements that the athlete's testosterone levels had to be below 5 nonomoles per liter (nmol/L) for a span of 12 months. The eligibility requirements had been in place since 2019, but Telfer had still entered into this week's trials, and was ultimately not able to compete.
Despite the eligibility requirements being there for a good reason, the statement from USA Track and Field still felt the need to reference "inclusivity" in a statement.
According to AP:
USATF said in a statement that in order for athletes to be eligible for the trials, they must meet the requirements to be a member of the U.S. Olympic team, and that eligibility for the Olympics is governed by World Athletics.
It further explained: “Following notification from World Athletics on June 17 that the conditions had not yet been met, USATF provided CeCe with the eligibility requirements and, along with World Athletics, the opportunity to demonstrate her eligibility so that she could compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. According to subsequent notification to CeCe from World Athletics on June 22, she has not been able to demonstrate her eligibility.”
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In its statement, USATF said it “strongly supports inclusivity and providing a clear path to participation in the sport for all, while also maintaining competitive fairness.”
“If CeCe meets the conditions for transgender athlete participation in the future, we wholeheartedly back her participation in international events as a member of Team USATF,” the statement said.
While a senior at Franklin Pierce, Telfer became the 2019 Division II national champion in the 400m, being the first trans woman athlete to do so. AP also referenced a piece from Telfer in Women's Health.
As that piece began:
I never identified as a male athlete. In high school, during track meets, I would say to myself that I'm a female athlete competing in a sport that I love. And I'm just running against these guys to be better than them.
I didn’t start competing on the women’s track team until my senior year of college at Franklin Pierce University. At that point, I had already come out and long since met the NCAA requirements for a trans woman athlete to compete on the women’s team—one year of testosterone suppression treatment.
The closing section, "People will continue to not understand who I am," noted:
In the two years since my groundbreaking NCAA Women’s Division II championship in the 400m hurdle, I’ve reached out to more than 200 coaches in hopes of qualifying for the 2021 Olympics. Only two responded, and one stopped replying to my emails after finding out I’m trans.
People will continue to point and laugh, but at the end of the day, all I can say is meet me on the track and we’ll see who is faster. To other athletes who don’t accept me as a competitor, meet me on the track and when we are running the same race, the books will tell you something you can’t deny: She’s fast.
A 2019 exclusive for Outsports doubled down on ignoring the main issue. "NCAA champion CeCé Telfer says ‘I have no benefit’ by being trans," the headline claimed.
The piece emphasizes terms such as "cisgender women" rather than biological male and females.
The significant portion of the piece that is dismissing arguments from young women and their families about the unfairness of biological men is best summed up by this overly generalized paragraph:
But as she racked up wins, the buzz surrounding Telfer spread to conservative right-wing and anti-LGBTQ fundamentalist Christian sites, with nasty headlines screaming about Telfer being “born a man” who “switched to female,” and is “destroying women’s sports.”
She did so well, in fact, that Donald Trump, Jr., took notice.
The Outsports piece withheld that Donald Trump Jr. was tweeting about Peter Hasson's 2019 piece for The Daily Caller, "Biological Male Is Top-Ranked NCAA Women’s Track Star."
Yet another grave injustice to so many young women who trained their entire lives to achieve excellence. Identify however you want, to each his own, but this is too far and unfair to so many.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 26, 2019
Biological Male Is Top-Ranked NCAA Women’s Track Star. https://t.co/4YqNcVLMSF
According to to manager David McFarland, Telfer will accept the decision. "CeCe has turned her focus towards the future and is continuing to train. She will compete on the national — and world — stage again soon," McFarland said.
This news comes not long after weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, a 43-year old biological man from New Zealand, made headlines for being the first transgender athlete in the Olympic Games, as Carson reported.