A two-time Olympian has contested the London Marathon’s regulations because a transgender runner was able to win the female division and place ahead of more than 14,000 other women.
Trans runner Glenique Frank, 54, who placed sixth in the marathon at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, recently told the BBC that she plans to use “girl power” to compete in the most important UK race this coming Sunday, which incensed Mara Yamauchi.
Yamauchi tweeted, “Men in the [female] category is UNFAIR for women,” with a clip of the sports bra-clad runner’s mid-race interview in which she professed joy at the thought of becoming “a gran.”
Frank caused “almost 14,000 real women finishing in a worse place,” as claimed by Yamauchi. Furthermore, despite being “ranked second in the world” among women, she stated, “at least 1300 men ran faster than me.”
She spoke on how, as of the end of March, World Athletics regulations excluding transgender women from competing in top female events were imposed by UK Athletics in an effort to make it “fair for athletes who have gone through male puberty to be excluded from the female category in athletics.”
Those who had already signed up for races were allowed to join coed teams.
The fact that this person participated under UK Athletics’ transitional circumstances did not change Yamauchi’s mind, he told Telegraph Sport.
The London Marathon is, as Cathy Devine, a former professor of sports and fitness at the University of Cumbria, puts it, “enabling.”
“There is no field in which women can compete successfully with men.”She tweeted her opposition to a women-only division in running competitions.
Frank told The Post on Tuesday that she had to run the New York City Marathon in the men’s division due of the information on her passport.
Despite this, she ran all around Manhattan while dressed as a tourist while wearing a long pink wig and a bright red bra.
However, being a British citizen and permanent resident of the United Kingdom, Frank did not require a visa to run in the London Marathon.
“I chose female because that’s how I see myself,” Frank said. It’s been three years since he came out as Glenique, a moniker that combines the two words “Glen” and “unique.” Irrespective of this, he said, “I’ve known since I was five that I was in the wrong body.”
Frank said it was “traumatic” since he had been “trying to spread joy and happiness with the rainbow love” at the race.
Nonetheless, “I get it,” Frank, the personal trainer, said when questioned about the worries. As a kind person, it hurts me to see Mara in distress.
Frank, after completing her 17th marathon, took a moment to express her satisfaction with her accomplishment to the BBC.
The crowd roared, “Go, girls!” With her huge arms spanning armbands of every color of the rainbow, she greeted Frank.
The runner (who has photos on his social media from races when he was still bald and married) spoke to the woman about her “beautiful son” being pregnant during the race’s halfway point.
This is it!” The old lady in me is showing! Frank raced away while proclaiming, “I’m flying the transgender flag!” There were blues and pinks and whites.
Given that Frank was not a professional runner vying for fame or wealth, she was surprised by the criticism. As an alternative, she has given away the equivalent of $37,000 owing to her marathon participation.
As she put it, “I completed in four hours and eleven minutes.”There are a lot of people who are better than me, as there are over 6,150 women who came before me in my category.
Frank said she would “enter under ‘other’ or’male’ from here on out to keep the peace.
A jubilant “And I’ll still do it in four hours, and I won’t steal anybody’s money,” she vowed.