This week, transgender female cyclist Na Hwa-rin made headlines when she won a race to “stir controversy” and prove a point that transgender women could dominate women’s sports. She made it clear that she does not think there is any “honor” in that, and has a different suggestion instead.
During a recent interview with the Korean Times, Na Hwa-rin made it clear that she thinks there should be a “third gender” category for transgender athletes.
“It could be like how we have many weight divisions in some sports… Under the current binary system, women athletes will be discouraged, and their hard work might not be recognized due to the participation of transgender athletes. At the same time, trans woman athletes, no matter how hard they worked, will never be truly honored for their wins. Honor is the goal that all athletes aspire to attain, but this is a situation where nobody will be honored. I think that shouldn’t happen,” she said.
“Respect and harmony. Those are the core values of Olympism and sports.”
By winning the race at the Gangwon Sports Festival, Na also qualified for the National Sports Festival, but she declined, making it clear that she had already proved her point and did not want to do any harm.
