There's a lot of talk about the destruction of women's sports by the entry into it of male to female (MtoF) transgender athletes, and one of the highest profile of these is Cece Telfer, a Jamaican-born US runner.
The top US college athletes – those judged likely to become elite – compete in the NCAA Division 1 (the Ivy League elite). Telfer was low ranked in male track and field in Division 2, and the women's 400m hurdles event that Telfer won, was in Division 2.
The fastest woman in the world at the moment in the 400m hurdles is Dalilah Muhammad - also a black American - who has run it in 52.16, a full 5 seconds faster than Telfer. Dozens of other elite female athletes have bettered Telfer’s time.
At current speeds, Telfer would not make the Olympic final - in fact, would probably not make the US Olympic team BUT if that did happen, chances are it would be a black female athlete who would be knocked out. When Muhammad broke the women's world record at the world championships in Doha in 2019 - the entire field was black.
Telfer ran the 400m hurdles in men’s competition in 57.34 seconds, and in 57.53 over the lower hurdles in the women's event - so fractionally slower but – as the young woman in second place was 2 seconds slower – it's fair to say that Telfer was not being pushed to run the fastest possible time.
Telfer’s 60-metre dash personal best (PB) in men’s competition was 7.67 seconds; in women’s - it’s 7.63. The women’s world record is 6.92.
In the flat 400m, Telfer's PB was 55.77 seconds against men; against women, it’s 54.41. The women’s world record is 47.60 seconds; the all-time top ranked 25 athletes in the women’s competition have run the event 5 or more seconds faster than Telfer.
The coach puts that better performance in women’s competition down to an “improved work ethic”, with the claim that Telfer’s improvement is due to being more comfortable competing in women's events.
It's just as likely to be due to the power of increased self-confidence arising from having gone from not having a hope of even a place in the top 200 men in NCAA competition, to winning and being placed against women, with the attendant possibility of the financial rewards of going professional, and of fame as the first black transgender track and field athlete in the Olympics.
Self-confidence and status and financial incentives are huge motivators, and anyone who is in any doubt about the importance of that needs to talk to a sports psychologist.
Much is made of the slight disadvantage in the greater wind resistance, of being much taller than your competitors (Telfer is 6’ 2”), and in the different spacing of the hurdles in the women’s event, which is calculated on the considerably lower averaged female height/ stride length. However, that is more than offset by the lower height of the hurdles in women’s competition (30” compared to 36”), and the average performance advantages (APA) gained by having gone through a full male puberty.
In relation to the latter, the current rules of NCAA competition require testosterone suppression for one year prior to competition, but no amounts are specified and testing regimes are vague. The rule seems to be a token gesture towards the current IAAF/IOC regulations of a twelve month reduction of testosterone levels to no more than 10 nmols/L, which is the bottom of the male standard reference range (SRR), and over 4x the top of the female SRR.
The fact is, although the likes of Laurel Hubbard will not beat the best of the 105+ kg women weightlifters, MtoF transgender athletes who have gained the APA associated with going through male puberty, will push mid-ranking women out of the picture, which will have a ripple effect down through female sports.
I have no doubt that if they had the ability, most MtoF transgender athletes would remain in male competition because the status and financial rewards are so much greater. The athletes who are most likely to migrate into women’s events are also-rans like Telfer, or over-the-hills like Hubbard.
The situation for FtoM athletes like Chris Moser is different as the unlimited use of a potent performance enhancer (exogenous testosterone) when competing in male competition alters the parameters of the argument.
But, however concerned I am about aspects of the current transgender ideology, I am deeply distrustful of right-wing organisations in the US which have chosen to showcase black transgender athletes like Telfer. The racism dimension in the US cannot be extracted from the gender identity and sex-based rights issues – and it's no accident that it is the black transgender athletes who are being showcased. The appeal is as much to racism as it is to concerns about women’s sex-based rights.
It must be said that the other side of this most polarised and polarising of issues, there are many people here in NZ who'd profess the deepest attachment to anti-racism who have blithely ignored the race and the class dimensions of the born-male, white offspring of a multi-millionaire taking podium places away from young Pasifika women.
An interesting case of a glaring double standard – or a politico-ethical blindspot.
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