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news
National Cycling Centre (British Cycling).jpgUCI bars transgender cyclist Emily Bridges from debut as woman at National Omnium Championships this weekend
British Cycling has confirmed that transgender cyclist Emily Bridges will not now make her competitive debut as a woman at the National Omnium Championships in Derby this weekend, saying that the UCI has informed it that under current regulations, she “is not eligible to participate in this event.”
We will have more on this story in the morning. In the meantime, in a statement released this evening, the national governing body said:
At British Cycling, we believe that transgender and non-binary people should be able to find a home, feel welcome and included, and be celebrated in our sport.
Under the British Cycling Transgender and Non-Binary Participation policy, Emily Bridges was due to participate in the British National Omnium Championships on Saturday 2nd April. We have now been informed by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) that under their current guidelines Emily is not eligible to participate in this event.
We have been in close discussions with the UCI regarding Emily’s participation this weekend and have also engaged closely with Emily and her family regarding her transition and involvement in elite competitions. We acknowledge the decision of the UCI with regards to Emily’s participation, however we fully recognise her disappointment with today’s decision.
Transgender and non-binary inclusion is bigger than one race and one athlete – it is a challenge for all elite sports. We believe all participants within our sport deserve more clarity and understanding around participation in elite competitions and we will continue to work with the UCI on both Emily’s case and the wider situation with regards to this issue.
We also understand that in elite sports the concept of fairness is essential. For this reason, British Cycling is today calling for a coalition to share, learn and understand more about how we can achieve fairness in a way that maintains the dignity and respect of all athletes.
Within recent years, we’ve seen huge advancements in the science and testing around elite sports, the broader scientific and understanding of human biology, developments in protection provided by the law, and crucially a greater respect for the psychological and societal challenges of those who are transgender and non-binary. This is a complex area and by uniting, we can share resources and insights.
We know that some of these conversations are happening in pockets of the sporting world, but we want to encourage all sporting governing bodies, athletes, the transgender and non-binary athlete community, the Government and beyond to come together and find a better answer.
Across sports, far more needs to be done, collectively, before any long-term conclusions can be drawn.
Below is our original article, published at 1215 today.
A transgender cyclist who was once part of the men’s Great Britain Academy Programme, and who last month won a men’s race at the British Universities Track Championships, looks set to make her competitive debut as a woman against some of the country’s top female riders including multiple Olympic champion Dame Laura Kenny at the National Omnium Championships in Derby this weekend – although some competitors are said to be afraid to speak out about her potential participation in the event.
Emily Bridges, aged 21, revealed her struggles with gender dysphoria and the impact it was having on her, including depression and feeling isolated, in an article written for Sky Sports that was published on Coming Out Day in October 2020.
She started undergoing hormone therapy last year, and her testosterone levels are now sufficiently low to allow her to compete in women’s events under British Cycling’s Transgender and Non-Binary Participation Policy.
First published in 2020, the latest version of the policy was published in January this year following a consultation last summer that attracted 600 responses.
Transgender athletes are required to have testosterone levels below 5 nanomoles per litre for a year (men generally range between 10 and 30 nanomoles per litre) before being permitted to compete against other women.
Announcing the update, British Cycling said: “Our first Transgender and Non-Binary Participation Policy was designed to be as inclusive as possible, imposing only necessary and proportionate restrictions on eligibility to ensure fair and meaningful competition, based on the most relevant available guidance.”
The governing body said that it would “continue to follow the UCI regulations introduced in March 2020, which are based on objective scientific research and driven by a desire to guarantee fairness and safety within the sport … For this reason, testosterone levels remain the primary method of determining which members are eligible to compete in the male and female categories.”
It added: “While there has been much commentary on the effectiveness of testosterone-based measures, at the current time we do not have sufficient research or understanding to update this area of our policy in a way which is relevant and appropriate for our sport.
“However, we remain committed to moving with international bodies and scientific opinion, and supporting research efforts in any way we can.”
News of Bridges’ likely participation in Derby this weekend has attracted criticism within the media, with Owen Slot, chief sports writer at The Times, writing that should she beat Kenny – five times an Olympic gold medallist, two of those in the Omnium – this weekend, it would underline the unfairness of allowing transgender women to compete in female sports events.
Meanwhile, Olympic silver medal-winning former swimmer Sharron Davies, who believes that despite reduction of testosterone levels, transgender women retain an unfair physical advantage over biological females and should therefore be excluded from women’s sport, says that she has been contacted by women cyclists who are fearful of going public with their concerns.
“British Cycling ought to be ashamed of themselves,” she said, quoted on Mail Online. “I have had quite a few of the girls very distressed on the phone. They are frustrated and disappointed.
“They are all for inclusion but not at the loss of fairness and opportunities for biological females.”
However, Bridges’ mother Sandy, writing on Twitter, said that her daughter may have to have police protection at the championships this weekend.
“This is the reality of being trans today,” she wrote. “That my daughter has to be on a police operation plan to compete in a bike race in the UK. How in any way can that be #SafeToBeMe2022.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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301 comments
The only one reducing this to a simplistic "cock or not" is you.
Just because nature and life doesn't conform to your narrow world view doesn't make anyone misogynistic, it makes you narrow minded and bigoted.
Actually, I'm not the only one. I have billions of advocates around the world. And there you go with the name calling again. I do not believe a woman can have a penis. That does not make me narrow minded, nor bigoted; merely an adherent to biological fact.
You guys just carry on with the virtue signalling and tell your wives and daughters how wonderful and progressive they are to allow naked men to share their spaces.
Billions? Sure. Counted them yourself have you, or is this yet more of your hyperbolic crap?
it's also not "mostly men", but given you're wilfully ignorant and closed minded of everything including biology, yet confidentially spout complete nonsense as fact, I can't be bothered more with you
It isn't virtue signalling, you transphobe. You're just very odd as you seem to conflate sexuality with nudity, which is really,really weird.
So you claim something that's latently rubbish, get corrected, and rather than show SOME grace and accept you were wrong, you've decided to try to deflect and hilariously gotten evolution as bad,y wrong as you get biology.
Maybe stop? You can't extricate yourself from the 100 foot hole you've dug, but you can at least not dig any further down...
If Godwins law hasn't been reached yet.. can we just close this shit show of a thread please.
IIRC the last article about trans issues went well over 200 comments. You'd think by now that the admins would realise that they ought to post the article but not open it to comments (like they do with the 'open case' crime stories).
No. Because that would be the equivalent of an activist walking away when they can't answer an uncomfortable question. Let the debate continue.
you don't get to debate the existence of others.
But you didn't seem comfortable with the fact that I was a pigeon. For the record, I don't mind you debating it though. For example, I could point out that women don't have penises, and you could point out that I don't have a beak.
No, I said that your obvious bad faith argument was crass, and denigrates the actual people involved here.
You could point out whatever you like, doesn't make it true.
Yeah well that's exactly what Goebbels would have said.
Stalinist!
trotskyite!
Extremophobe!
Trans activists should stop making the absurd claim that if someone has the opinion that trans people should not compete in women's sports then that means that the person is transphobic.
It doesn't. And if someone has the opinion that adults people should not compete in children's sports, that does not mean that the person is "adultphobic".
see, it's really easy to spot transphobes, as they make Really obviously transphobic remarks like you just did.
Please give a logical rationale as to why my statements prove that I am transphobic, that is that I dislike trans people.
by separating transwomen out of the gender "woman" which you did above.
Your definition of "transphobic" is incomplete, or rather it shows your complete ignorance of the topic.
Seems to me that your notion of anyone who is "something-phobic" of some groups of people is that they don't agree that the group should be allowed to do whatever they want.
Anyway your problem is quantity over quality - and anyone reading a few of your posts soon knows that you are full of ****. That's why I'm done with trying to argue rationally with you.
No. sigh.
keep going. You're not doing well here.
transwomen are women. You say otherwise. You are a transphobe. Own it.
If Transwomen are women why the need for the word 'trans' in the first place?
to denote their gender doesn't align to the sex assigned at birth. Same as "cis" indicates the opposite.
This is hardly rocket science, just language.
im a white gay cis male. Every prefix provides more information.
At some point you children need to grow up and realise you don't win a debate by accusing people of being transphobic. Disagreement isn't bigotry. We didn't get equal marriage by insulting and accusing, we used a well reasoned debate over time and proved that many of the fears and slippery slope arguments people used weren't reasonable. Alternatively many of you trans activists are blatantly homophobic and push conversion therapy. Learn to debate like an adult and grow up.
I'm not looking to "win a debate" with the transphobes here. They don't matter to me. They're mostly a waste of bytes.
Also, that poster is transphobic. It's been proven by their posting.
Calling people children because their opinion differs to you is hardly a good way for you to come stomping in here, is it?
I would be quite amazed if I was homophobic. Truly.
Good luck with that! Radical trans activists been pushing blatant conversion therapy on Gays and Lesbians for years now. They claim that if men are attracted to biological males or females to biological females then it's "transphobic". That's blatant homophobia, and their solution is disgusting conversion therapy for us to "unlearn" these dangerous attractions.
For those who say that British Cycling allowing trans riders to participate in their events has come "without consultation", I would like to point out that British Cycling actually did run a consultation that was open to riders, racers, coaches, parents, community members, and even you, if you took the time to fill in an online form. They did this after the first draft transgender participation policy was launched, and they incorporated the responses into the current policy. They wrote more about that here: https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about/article/20220127-about-bc-news-A...
So, regardless of how it makes you feel now, it remains a fact that the majority of respondents were supportive of transgender athletes being allowed to participate in the category with which they identify.
But of course, the naysayers seem to forget this.
Most people wouldn't bother filling in such forms, which means that the result of such a "survey" will be strongly biased, and is not representative of the public in general.
but I thought it was competitors that mattered? That's what's mentioned in lots of peoples clsims - that they're not transphobic, they're just making sure competitors aren't disadvantaged
Yes, exactly as I said. So activist competitors skew the survey, and they tell their activist friends to help the skew. Your continual attempts to twist the truth don't fool me.
Besides that, where do athletes get their money from? From other athletes? Or from spectators/supporters/public?
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