A petition has been set up by a
group calling for the International Olympic Committee to revoke Bruce Jenner’s
1976 Olympic Gold medal. Bruce, now known as Caitlyn, won the coveted gong
competing in the decathlon in Montreal.
Jennifer Bradford, who started
the petition, argued that as Bruce 'always believed she is truly female' her
medal was won 'in violation of committee rules regarding women competing in
men’s sports.' The petition currently has around 3,000 signatories and has
spawned a hash tag #givebackthegold.
Read full text below;
It has recently come to light
that gold medalist Bruce Jenner is in fact transgender, and therefore,
identifies as a woman. We congratulate Ms. Jenner on these new developments and
wish her the best. However, this creates somewhat of a problem as Ms. Jenner
(as talented as she is) claims that she has always believed herself to be truly
female, and therefore, was in violation of committee rules regarding women
competing in men’s sports and vice versa.
Therefore, it is with a heavy heart
that we must ask whether or not it is proper that Ms. Jenner should retain her
Olympic records in light of this, as we must now either claim that Bruce Jenner
and Caitlyn Jenner are two entirely different people (which we know is not
true), or that Bruce Jenner was, in fact, a woman participating in a men’s
event. It is only fair to all involved that women receive their credit as
champions of the Decathlon and that the men racing Ms. Jenner are not expected to
compete with a superior, streamlined being such as herself.
We urge Ms. Jenner to support
the transgender community by giving up the medals earned by competing against
the wrong gender.
Thank you, and congratulations
to Ms. Jenner for her courage! #givebackthegold
Defining gender boundaries at
the Olympics has always been a difficult discussion for the IOC based off the
notion that two genders should never compete against each other. For many
years, female Olympic athletes were forced to undergo a required gender
verification process. The practice came to a halt in the 1990s; however, the
IOC has the right to impose this process for particular athletes.
While Jenner has stated that
she has always known herself to be a woman, she was not taking hormone therapy
at the time of the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
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