Controversy as transgender athlete wins women's category in trail race

Spain The organizers of the San Pere de Torello trail race announced a provisional adjustment of the results and are awaiting a decision from the Federation of Mountaineering of Catalonia (FEEC) after a transgender athlete won the women's category.

Controversy erupted at Na'dalt, a timed mountaineering race at 1,246 metres in Barcelona, ​​Catalonia. The race is a 3.8km route with a total elevation gain of 628 metres.

According to La Vanguardia , a runner named Quima D won the women's category. This caused controversy because although he has changed gender and no longer uses his old name Quim Duran, Quima D is registered as a man and regularly runs in that category.

Therefore, the organizers had to temporarily change the results by declaring Quima D as the provisional winner in the general category, and at the same time promoting Laia Montoya - a runner who finished 82 seconds slower than Quima D - as the winner in the women's category.

Quima D (right) receives the prize, a piece of meat, after being ranked as the overall champion by the Na'dalt organizers. Photo:

Quima D was booed by the audience when he received his prize from the organizers - a box of meat. The organizers also announced that another prize would be given to Montoya.

In an official statement about the incident, the organizers said that Na'dalt always tries to promote and promote women's sports, and wants to show support and tolerance, solidarity and empathy for everyone, regardless of gender.

"The controversy that a transsexual athlete has topped in the women's category creates a dilemma that involves a series of ethical, moral, and even personal and scientific issues," the statement said, adding that the matter was beyond the capacity of an amateur tournament like Na'dalt.

The Na'dalt organizers said that the race is managed by the Federation of Mountaineering of Catalonia (FEEC), but there were no FEEC members on the day of the race. Therefore, they chose a temporary solution and contacted FEEC to explain the problem and ask for specific instructions.

"FEEC understands the situation and is committed to drafting appropriate regulations for this case and other rules that will certainly apply in the future. When FEEC publishes a rule, we - as a federation - will apply it to the results from this tournament," the statement concluded.

Catalan news site 20minutos commented that it was reasonable for Na'dalt to "kick the ball of responsibility" to FEEC when the issue of transgender athletes competing in the female category still causes a lot of controversy in most sports.

The Spanish Weightlifting Federation itself once said it was unfair for Gavin Hubbard, a New Zealander who was assigned male at birth, to compete in the women's category at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) later admitted that the rules on transgender athletes competing in the women's category were outdated and would change after Tokyo 2020.

Former US President Donald Trump is among those who oppose allowing transgender athletes to compete in the women's league. "Imagine if LeBron James decided to have surgery, transition, and play in the women's league. What would that mean for him to be on the field? Fans want to see fans competing, but what they don't want to see is male athletes competing in the women's league. Soon, you won't see women competing. I hate to say it," he said during a speech in Phoenix, Arizona in July 2021.

Hong Duy

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