A transgender athlete who competed as a man before winning the NCAA women’s national championship vows to return to indoor competition and “get all the records.”
CeCe Telfer became the first openly trans woman to win an NCAA title when she placed first in the 400-meter hurdles at the Division II National Championships in 2019.
But Telfer suggests he is now planning an imminent return to competition in which he plans to sweep away his fellow sprinters.
“I really want to run indoors, because 2024 indoors is going to be epic,” Telfer said in an interview with Them.
“Once again my dreams were taken from me. So I plan to come back to New England, do all the indoor competitions and take all the names, all the records and everything.
The transgender runner who competed as a man before winning the NCAA women’s national championship vows to return to indoor competition and “get all the records.”
Cece Telfer became the first openly trans woman to win an NCAA title when she placed first in the 400m hurdles at the Division II National Championships in 2019 (pictured)
The dream Telfer talks about is to compete on the international stage.
In 2021, USA Track and Field prevented Telfer from competing in the Olympic trials, arguing that she did not meet hormonal eligibility requirements.
Two years later, in March 2023, World Athletics, track’s international governing body, banned all trans women from competing.
It ended any hope Telfer may have had of competing in this summer’s Olympics in Paris.
In the years since her 2019 victory, Telfer says she has become homeless and no longer speaks to her biological family.
She has also spoken openly about the abuse and harassment she has received both publicly and privately for her participation in women’s sports.
But Telfer, who set records while competing for Franklin Pierce University, appears to have a burning desire to return to the race track and is serious about setting new records in the process.
“That doesn’t look like first all the time, that doesn’t look like second place, that doesn’t look like podium all the time, but the track races that count will count.” That’s what this fire burns in my heart and in my body. So it lets me know that I can go to indoor competitions and still be the girl to talk about, period.’
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has not yet issued specific rules regarding the participation of transgender athletes in sports.
The body had previously said they would reflect the rules proposed by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, while each individual sport would follow the national governing body for each sport.
If there is no national governing body, then each sport would follow whatever the current international policy is.
Telfer promises to return to the track to break ‘all records’. She is pictured last weekend.
Telfer (right) pictured after winning a Division II national title in the 400-meter hurdles as a senior at Franklin Pierce University in 2019.
Originally from Jamaica, Telfer moved to Canada at age 12 before moving to New Hampshire when he was a junior in high school. It was there that Telfer began participating in athletics.
Telfer, who was born and raised Craig, competed in the men’s division in January 2018 before undergoing gender reassignment surgery before the 2019 season.
Telfer competed on the men’s team at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire from 2016 to 2018, even though she identified as female.
The NCAA’s transgender policy was updated in January 2022 and the rule has been enforced since August 1.
By comparison, earlier this year, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), a smaller organization compared to the NCAA, banned transgender athletes from women’s sports.
The NAIA justified its decision by saying that it was based on “fair and safe competition for all student-athletes” and that “Title IX ensures that there are separate and equal opportunities for female athletes.”
The organization said only athletes whose biological sex is female can participate in “NAIA-sponsored women’s sports.”
Telfer has said she is “heartbroken” and “distressed” by those rules.
Telfer has suggested that she is planning an imminent return to competition in which she plans to defeat her fellow sprinters.
Telfer, who competed for Franklin Pierce University, appears to have a burning desire to return to the track and is serious about setting new records in the process.
Telfer published his memoirs this month
‘Why are we going back? Why are we going backwards? “We are literally going back in history,” Telfer said.
‘This is not real life, because we were moving forward and now we are moving backwards. This is scary. The fact that people are powerful enough to push back is terrifying, not just for transgender women, but it should be for society at large… They have always been policing women’s bodies. It all depends on cis women and what happens in their lives and their bodies.
‘It breaks my heart because I had a chance. The NCAA saw me. They gave me the opportunity to be that voice and be that physical change, and they were taking a step in the right direction and obviously creating history, hoping that other organizations would follow in their footsteps.’
The topic took center stage in 2022 with UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, pictured, who began competing in women’s collegiate swimming 18 months after transition setting records.
Although professional bodies set their own rules and regulations, debates have arisen across the country about athletes competing in high school and college.
The topic took center stage in 2022 with UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, who began competing in women’s collegiate swimming a year and a half after transitioning.
Thomas broke several women’s records, to the dismay of several of her teammates, and the NCAA and USA Swimming bodies were criticized for allowing Thomas to compete.
Professional competitive swimming association FINA has since effectively banned trans women from competing in the sport, saying they must have begun transitioning before puberty began, which is illegal or nearly impossible to do in most parts of the world. The USA.
Currently, 24 states have banned transgender students from competing in women’s sports.
A notable example is Ohio, which passed a bill requiring students accused of being transgender to submit a doctor’s note detailing their sexual anatomy, testosterone levels, and genetic makeup.
In New Jersey, Republican lawmakers proposed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which would require female student-athletes to verify the nature of their genitals to compete.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Michael Testa, compared the genital checks to the random drug tests college athletes are subjected to, and said he didn’t foresee any problems with angry parents accusing girls of being transgender. .