Laurel Hubbard 🏋️♀️ and Quinn ⚽ are the first openly trans athletes to compete in the @Olympics.
🤔 But why did it take until #Tokyo2020 to get to this point?
🧵Here's what you should know about trans representation in sport. 👇
🇩🇪 Heinrich Ratjen was an early case of gender controversy at the Games.
🏃♀️ Ratjen competed as a woman in the 1936 #Olympics before being questioned about their gender.
⚧ After being arrested for fraud, they began living as a man - though many now think they were intersex.
⭕ After this case, many female athletes were interrogated about their identity.
🛂 In the 1940s, ‘femininity certificates' were introduced by international sports administrators.
🔴 From the 1966 European Championships, women had to go through mandatory genital checks.
📢 Sports governing bodies brought in chromosome tests as a more respectful alternative in 1968.
🧪 But many scientists disagreed with their effectiveness and they were discontinued.
🎾 Tennis legend Renée Richards initially refused to take the chromosome test.
👟 She played competitively in the 1950s before transitioning - but was barred from competing in the women’s draw at the US Open.
🟢 Richards sued and won the right to play in 1977.
🏳️⚧️It wasn’t until the 2004 #Olympics in Athens when trans athletes could compete in the Olympics.
But there were restrictions:
🔵 Their sex must have been officially recognised
🔵 They must have had gender reassignment surgery
🔵 And at least two years of hormone therapy after
🏌️♀️ In 2004, golfer @MianneBagger became the first trans woman to compete in a professional tournament.
🌍 This led to several golf tours worldwide adjusting their policies.
🟡 The Olympics rules changed in 2015.
📉 As long as female trans athletes' testosterone levels were below 10 nanomoles per litre for a year, they could compete.
👟In 2016, triathlete Chris Mosier was widely lauded as the first trans athlete to represent @TeamUSA internationally.
📢 Mosier had successfully campaigned for @iocmedia to remove gender reassignment surgery as a rule to compete in the Olympics.
🏳️⚧️ Have any other trans athletes inspired you?
Let us know 👇
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