Tom Daley: "I don't feel I was ready to hang up my trunks!"

Feb 18, 2024

“I realized that I wasn’t ready to be done. I don’t feel I was ready to hang up my trunks and move on with that part of my life”

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LOS ANGELES – Vlogging on his YouTube channel for the first time in approximately 23 months, Tom Daley announced Saturday that while he hasn’t formally made a decision yet, he is seriously considering competing in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France.

Clearly emotional at times, the Olympic Gold Medalist said that he wasn’t ready to “let go of diving yet.” Daley related that during a recent trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, home to the U.S. Olympic Training Center, he and filmmaker husband Lance Black, who were in the Springs with their oldest son Robbie to pick-up their newborn son Phoenix, toured the U.S. Olympic facility.

It was during that tour Daley said that he realized; “I don’t feel I was ready to hang up my trunks!”

“Coming out the museum,” Daley said on the video; “I realised that I wasn’t ready to be done. I don’t feel I was ready to hang up my trunks and move on with that part of my life. Especially when my son Robbie said to me, ‘Papa I want to see you dive at the Olympics – and that kinda lit a new flame, a new fire inside of me to want to see where this goes.”

Reflecting on this being a potential recreational activity at first he noted that it would be an opportunity to see if his body would be ready for the rigors of Olympic training required to compete again.

The champion British diver noted that “Paris 2024 was definitely a goal.” Although he acknowledged that it may not be possible. The 29-year-old athlete has been competing in his sport of diving since at the age of 14, he was selected to represent Great Britain in the 10m platform at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Daley stated that he was quasi-retired having taken the past two years off since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He stressed that he felt the drive to role model for his sons but admitted “I don’t know where this is going to go.” He added that he was documenting his desire to get “back in the pool” in part because “I wasn’t ready to let go of diving yet – so the journey begins.”

Daley recently moved to Los Angeles from London with his husband and their two sons, Robert – known as Robbie (age 5) and newly arrived Phoenix (age 3 months). Daley whose enthusiastic passion for his knitting is well known, has recently partnered with Lion Brand Yarn for a new venture.

Daley founded his own Made With Love fashion label in November 2021, stemming from his genuine love for knitting and crochet and his desire to share it with the world and encourage others to take up the hobby.

Phoenix Mercury: No Brittney Griner for next couple of away games

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Griner will not travel with the team for the two-game road trip to Chicago and Indiana (July 30-August 1) to focus on her mental health

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PHOENIX, AZ. – WNBA All-Star Phoenix Mercury center player Brittney Griner will not travel with the team for the next series of away games the team announced Saturday in a tweet.

“Mercury center Brittney Griner will not travel with the team on its upcoming two-game road trip to Chicago and Indiana (July 30-August 1) to focus on her mental health. The Mercury fully support Brittney and we will continue to work together on a timeline for her return.”

Mercury center Brittney Griner will not travel with the team on its upcoming two-game road trip to Chicago and Indiana (July 30-August 1) to focus on her mental health. The Mercury fully support Brittney and we will continue to work together on a timeline for her return.

Griner, affectionally known as ‘BG’ to family, friends and her fan base, had returned to the game in May after being released from a Russian penal camp last December. She played in the game between the LA Sparks and Phoenix Mercury at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.

Traveling with the team in June, returning to their home hardwood, Griner and her Mercury teammates were harassed by a right-wing extremist at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. That incident sparked concerns over her safety.

Blaze Media YouTuber Alex Stein posted video of himself shouting at Griner in the Texas airport. Among his taunts: “Do you still want to boycott America, Brittney?” “She hates America” and “What about the merchant of death, Brit?”

Russian authorities released Griner from a gulag in December, almost ten months after the out lesbian was detained at a Moscow airport on drug charges. The Biden administration made a prisoner swap with the Russians that conservatives have condemned because it involved a notorious arms dealer.

In the aftermath of that incident, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association is calling on the league to immediately change their travel protocols, which prevent teams that can afford to charter flights from doing it so as not to create a competitive advantage.

In a statement, the league said Griner has been approved to fly charter for WNBA games. Phoenix Mercury officials did not explained why she was not doing so ESPN reported.

It’s unclear if Griner will return to play to start the team’s next home game as of Sunday.

That ban followed the landmark victory by American trans swimmer Lia Thomas in March 2022, at the NCAA championships in Atlanta

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FUKUOKA, Japan — A year and a month after banning transgender competitors, the head of World Aquatics told the World Aquatics Congress that his organization is setting up an “open category” that will include trans swimmers, at some point in the future.

“This is a very complex topic,” Husain Al-Musallam said at the meeting in the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka. “But I am delighted to tell you today that we are now making plans for the first trial of an open category, and we hope to be able to confirm all the details soon.”

“Our sport must be open to everybody,” said the first vice president of FINA, the International Swimming Federation, according to the Associated Press.

Al-Musallam did not disclose any details of how the “open category” would work or when it would be held among other races. Generally speaking, such a category would allow all competitors, cisgender men, women, transgender and nonbinary athletes to compete against one another, instead of in categories delineated by binary sex.

As the Blade has reported, FINA members voted to restrict transgender athletes from elite women’s competitions at a meeting in Budapest in June 2022. The final vote tally of the representatives was 71.5% approval for the new policy which requires transgender athletes show that “they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later.”

Tanner Stages describe the physical changes people undergo during puberty.

The move effectively eliminated trans women from being eligibile to compete in the women’s category.

That ban followed the landmark victory by American swimmer Lia Thomas in March 2022, when she won the women’s 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships in Atlanta, becoming the first transgender NCAA Division 1 champion.

Thomas competed for the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team after beginning her medical transition, having quit the men’s squad at the Ivy League school in 2019. She was allowed to compete despite a change in transgender participation policies by USA Swimming that would have disqualified her. The NCAA ruled in the weeks prior to the championship meet that Thomas was qualified to swim.

Thomas graduated in 2022 and is pursuing a law degree, having expressed an interest in civil rights and public interest law in recent interviews. She told Sports Illustrated in 2022 she planned to continue to train with the intention of swimming in the U.S. Olympic trials in 2024, but that was before the ban and this new announcement of an “open category.”

In addition to World Aquatics, aka FINA, other sports organizations that have banned trans athletes include Union Cycliste Internationale, the British Triathlon Federation, the International Rugby League and World Athletics. The U.S. Disc Golf Pro Tour recently canceled five events where one trans athlete, Natalie Ryan, might be able to compete because of discrimination laws in those locales, as the Blade reported.

From California to Canada, fans celebrate Nikki Hiltz and Quinn- These two trans nonbinary stars are being celebrated in each of their sports

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PERTH, Australia — Canada is gearing up for its second match in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, facing Ireland Wednesday with trans nonbinary trailblazer Quinn expected back on the pitch. Last week, Quinn made history by playing in the team’s opener against Nigeria, without even scoring a goal; They are the first out trans nonbinary player to compete in soccer’s international championship.

Ten-thousand miles away in Monaco, trans nonbinary sprinter Nikki Hiltz set a new U.S. national record on Friday that has stood for nearly 40 years. Although they finished in sixth place, the Aptos, Calif. native ran the mile in 4 minutes, 16.35 seconds, breaking the mark of 4:16.71, set in 1985 by Mary Slaney.

These two trans nonbinary stars are being celebrated in each of their sports. Earlier this month, Hiltz, 28, became the first out trans nonbinary athlete to win a USA Track and Field national title, as the Los Angeles Blade reported. Part of the joy that came with the win was having the TV commentators get their pronouns right, as they shared on Instagram.

After setting the record in Monaco, Hiltz wrote on Instagram: “There’s a lot of things I could probably attribute my recent successes to, but I think the most powerful tool I have is my joy,” they wrote. “Queer people can thrive when we make a space for them, love them, and embrace them for who they are.”

A post shared by Nikki Hiltz (@nikkihiltz)

Quinn, 27, shared a post on Instagram about their part in a new corporate initiative from GE Appliances, “See Them, Be Them.”

“I remember some of my favourite memories growing up were the opportunities I had to see my role models playing on the world stage and I’m so excited to be experiencing the other side of that now,” they captioned the post, which shows them talking with young soccer players. “We need more opportunities for girl and gender diverse soccer players to see their future in the sport.”

A post shared by Quinn (@thequinny5)

Fans of Quinn and Hiltz have added comments full of accolades, many sharing that their successes brought them to tears. “So much kudos for the incredible visibility you’re creating,” said a fan of Quinn’s. Another fan wrote to Hiltz, “You are such an inspiration for queer runners. Thank you for everything you do!”

But of course, history for trans athletes is not made without detractors adding their angry voices, too.

Quinn’s social media is especially targeted by negative commenters misgendering them and wrongly presuming they transitioned from male to female. On Monday, a politician in Nigeria posted what used to be called a tweet on the X platform, accusing Canada of cheating by having Quinn on its team.

“Canada cheated in their [match] against Nigeria at the FIFA Women’s World Cup game by featuring this MAN that they called ‘transgender,’ giving them an obvious advantage,” wrote Babatunde Gbadamosi, who is a former gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State.

“This game should be awarded to Nigeria along with all three points. Nigeria would have won that game EASILY if Canada did not have the advantage of an extra player. Our 11 women played against 12 Canadian women, because the man has to count as two women.”

Gbadamosi is calling for Nigeria and all African nations to boycott the Women’s World Cup because of “men pretending to be women.”

Other than Quinn, however, none of the nations taking part this year has an out transgender or trans nonbinary athlete competing in the Women’s World Cup.

There are reports that there are as many as 100 or more out LGBTQ+ competitors and coaches, including the USWNT’s Kristie Mewis, Kelley O’Hara and two-time champion Megan Rapinoe. Autostraddle called this “the most openly queer sporting event in history.”

Thomas and Bonner have been dating since the COVID lockdowns of 2020, when they spent time together in the WNBA “bubble”

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LAS VEGAS — Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas and guard DeWanna Bonner are engaged to get married, the couple and their team announced on social media Friday.

Surrounded by about a dozen candles, Thomas, 31, got down on one knee and, with a ring in her hand, popped the question to Bonner, 35. They each shared a black and white photo of their special moment in posts on Instagram Friday. Bonner can be seen clasping her hands to her face as the couple stood amid palm trees. Thomas captioned the image with one word: “FOREVER.”

A post shared by Alyssa Thomas (@athomas_25)

The team shared a color version of the photo on Twitter with the caption, “Best. News. Ever.”

Thomas and Bonner have been dating since the COVID lockdowns of 2020, when they spent time together in the WNBA “bubble,” according to the Associated Press.

A spokesperson for the Sun told the AP that the couple got engaged the weekend of July 15 in Las Vegas, where both players appeared in the WNBA All-Star game and walked the orange carpet in traffic-stopping outfits styled by Bonner’s childhood friend Jazmine Motley-Maddox.

While not every LGBTQ+ player in the league is out, some of the WNBA’s other publicly-acknowledged off-the-court relationships include New York Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot and former Chicago Sky teammate Allie Quigley, and Liberty star Breanna Stewart and former player Marta Xargay, who met when they played together in Russia.

Bonner and Thomas publicly confirmed their relationship on Valentine’s Day 2021, CBS Sports reported, about a year after the Phoenix Mercury traded Bonner to the Sun. The Fairfield, Ala. native was the Mercury’s No. 5 overall pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft, and spent the first decade of her career with Phoenix, earning three All-Star appearances and three Sixth Woman of the Year awards. This season, Bonner is averaging 18.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. She has added two more All-Star appearances and her second-team All-WNBA honors since being traded to the Sun.

Bonner is raising two daughters with her ex-wife, former WNBA star Candice Dupree: six-year-old twins Cali and Demi.

Thomas is a native of Harrisburg, Penn. who has spent her entire ten-year WNBA career with the Sun, after being drafted No. 4 overall out of Maryland in 2014. She is averaging 14.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game this season, and like Bonner is a key to the team’s success. Thomas just earned her fourth All-Star appearance and is the WNBA’s career triple-double leader.

“There’s just no one like her in the world,” Bonner told reporters following Thomas’s fourth triple-double on June 25th. The teammates have been outspoken about their love for the team as well as for each other.

“I just love this organization so much,” Bonner told reporters prior to the Sun’s victory over the Las Vegas Aces on June 8. “Literally, like it just changed my life as far as you know, off the court, meeting Alyssa.”

Following a pair of victories at home and on the road against the Atlanta Dream, Bonner, Thomas and the Sun take their 2-game winning streak to Dallas Tuesday to face the Wings before returning home to Uncasville, Conn. next weekend to host the Minnesota Lynx.

Megan Rapinoe entered the pitch late in match against Vietnam in the second half as USA Team co-captain Lindsey Horan scores the final goal

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The United States women’s national team won its first round of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Saturday, shutting out Vietnam 3-0.

With veteran Alex Morgan providing an assist, Sophia Smith, 22, of Colorado, scored a first-half goal, then another. Smith is a forward for the Portland, Ore. Thorns FC and is playing in her first World Cup. Smith received the Player of the Match trophy, which was presented by her father at the stadium in Auckland.

🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 https://t.co/GKPLmr1ImS

Her fellow Colorado native, captain Lindsey Horan, 29, added another goal in the second half. When she’s not playing in the World Cup, Horan is a midfielder for the French club Olympique Lyon.

Unlike in 2019, when the Americans defeated Thailand 13-0, Saturday’s victory followed a series of missteps, missed opportunities, mistakes and miscommunication among players who until now had never played together. The U.S. shot advantage was 28-0, but their conversion rate was dismal, with too many shots sailing high over the crossbar and wide of each post.

None of Vietnam’s players identifies as LGBTQ+, but reports say there are almost 100 out players in this Women’s World Cup, which would be a record. Kristie Mewis, Kelley O’Hara and two-time champion Megan Rapinoe are out athletes on the USWNT.

Rapinoe, 38, playing in her fourth and final World Cup, entered Saturday’s match in the 63rd minute. After the victory, she told Fox Sports she felt anxious going into the match, but was glad to get into the game.

“Obviously, great to get a win, a shutout,” said the out gay icon, who is engaged to former WNBA star Sue Bird. This is Rapinoe’s 200th appearance for Team USA. “It was a very special day, and obviously being able to celebrate 200 in a really meaningful game in a World Cup, which will be my last, is the best. What other way would you want to do it?”

As the Los Angeles Blade reported earlier this month, Rapinoe announced her retirement from soccer following this World Cup and her final season with the OL Reign in Seattle, Wash.

The Americans arrived at Eden Park dressed to the nines in matching business suits.

Business attire only 👔 pic.twitter.com/5uaXpvKfCc

A fun fact: It’s been 16 years and 364 days since Rapinoe’s first appearance for the USWNT on July 23, 2006, marking the longest gap between first and 200th appearance in the team’s history, according to OptaJack.

Next up for Rapinoe and the USWNT is Wednesday’s rematch of their 2019 final with the Netherlands in Wellington, New Zealand.

The owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars said the associate strength coach is “a key member of our football team and community”

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JACKSONVILLE, FL. – The NFL has an out gay player, has had out gay women coaches come out, and now has its first out male coach: Kevin Maxen, an associate strength coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars team.

His coming out makes Maxen the first publicly out male coach in any major American men’s pro sports league.

The owner of the Jaguars, Shad Khan, told ESPN that he “appreciated reading Kevin’s story,” which first appeared on one of SB Nation’s websites.

“Kevin is a Jacksonville Jaguar through and through, and a key member of our football team and community,” Khan told ESPN in a statement Thursday. “I look forward to seeing Kevin next week at training camp, and hope that he comes to work each day during camp and through the season feeling confident, free and at peace. I know our players and staff feel the same.”

Khan has been a key supporter of a Jacksonville city ordinance that expanded protections for sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

“I don’t want to feel like I have to think about it anymore,” Maxen said in the interview. “I don’t want to feel like I have to lie about who I am seeing or why I am living with someone else. I want to be vocal in support of people living how they want to live, but I also want to just live and not feel fear about how people will react.”

As the Los Angeles Blade has reported, the NFL has free agent Carl Nassib, who came out in 2020 as the first active gay player. Former free agent R.K. Russell came out as bisexual in 2019. As far as coaches go, the league has had female assistant coaches who are publicly out, including former San Francisco 49ers assistant coach Katie Sowers.

In the WNBA, the Los Angeles Sparks coach, Curt Miller, is an out gay man in a league with many out gay women on the court and coaching on the sidelines. The same is true for U.S. Women’s Soccer. Although there are several active out gay men playing soccer around the world, as PinkNews has reported, professional soccer in the U.S. has but one gay man playing: Collin Martin but there are currently no other active gay male players or coaches in the league nor in the NBA or MLB.

Those organizations join World Athletics, British Triathlon Federation, International Rugby League & World Aquatics in bans of trans athletes

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CLERMONT, FLA. — On the same day a ban on transgender women athletes was issued by Union Cycliste Internationale, the organizers of World Cycling in Switzerland, the Disc Golf Pro Tour announced it had “adjusted its competition schedule” to prevent trans women from competing with cisgender female athletes.

Those organizations now join World Athletics, the British Triathlon Federation, the International Rugby League, and World Aquatics (aka FINA), in effectively banning trans athletes.

As journalist Erin Reed reported in her Substack, Erin in The Morning, DGPT took this action, to officially cancel five Disc Golf Pro Tour events, “just to stop transgender athlete Natalie Ryan from playing after she won a major court victory.”

A post shared by Natalie Ryan (@natalieryan114560)

In a statement posted on its website, however, DGPT claimed its goal was to “protect competitive fairness.”

“These adjustments have been made in order to protect competitive fairness in the FPO division and to limit financial burden in locations where the PDGA Policy on Eligibility for Gender-Based Divisions may become the subject of last-minute litigation harmful to the tour,” the group said. “The DGPT is taking this action to ensure competitive fairness while working to maintain the operational viability of the FPO division.”

DGPT canceled the five events in New York, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts and Canada that were planned for August and September, as well as media coverage of those events, in response to the July 28th landmark ruling in favor of Ryan in Minnesota, granting her the right to compete.

As Ultiworld Disc Golf reported, a Minneosta judge determined that DGPT was likely violating state discrimination laws and unfairly targeting Ryan, who has played in the DGPT since 2019 and who started a medical transition back in 2016. She played for three years without incident but DGPT took action to ban her from competing after winning a championship in 2022. According to court documents, Ryan has always been open about her gender identity on the course and online.

Ryan posted about the ban on Instagram, promising she was not giving up and calling on allies to speak up:

A post shared by Natalie Ryan (@natalieryan114560)

Also Friday, the governing body of world cycling, UCI, announced that female transgender athletes who transitioned after undergoing puberty will be banned from competing in women’s races, starting Monday, as NBC News reported.

The group made no mention of a historic victory by American cyclist Austin Killips in announcing the ban. In May, Killips, 27, who had adhered to UCI’s 2022 policy requiring trans women athletes to have serum testosterone levels of 2.5 nanomoles per liter or less for at least 24 months before competing in women’s events, won the Stage 5 Gila Monster and took home the overall victory at Tour of the Gila. They are the first out trans competitor to win the grueling, nearly 66-mile race, and the first to win an official UCI cycling event.

In December, Killips placed third in the Elite Women’s Cyclocross event, held in Hartford. Conn., in December 2022. As the Los Angeles Blade reported, an investigation was launched following a complaint that they tried to push a cisgender competitor off-course, but no action was ever announced by USA Cycling.

Note that in its announcement on Friday, UCI specified they were only concerned about the effects of male puberty, by putting the word “male” in parentheses.

“From now on, female transgender athletes who have transitioned after (male) puberty will be prohibited from participating in women’s events on the UCI International Calendar — in all categories — in the various disciplines,” said the international federation in its statement.

The UCI claimed the ban was necessary to “ensure equal opportunities” and that it “has taken note of the state of scientific knowledge, which does not confirm that at least two years of gender-affirming hormone therapy with a target plasma testosterone concentration of 2.5 nmol/L is sufficient to completely eliminate the benefits of testosterone during puberty in men.” UCI also noted the difficulty to “draw precise conclusions about the effects” of gender-confirming hormone therapy.

Despite those ambiguities, and the lack of scientific evidence that conclusively proves trans women are naturally superior athletes to cisgender women, the UCI decided the rights of trans women are not equal to those who are cisgender.

“Given the current state of scientific knowledge, it is also impossible to rule out the possibility that biomechanical factors such as the shape and arrangement of the bones in their limbs may constitute a lasting advantage for female transgender athletes.” By that logic, it’s also impossible to conclude that they definitely constitute an advantage.

“Taking these findings into account, the UCI Management Committee considered the interests of transgender athletes in being able to take part in sporting competitions against those of athletes in the female category, which is considered a protected class,” which, in context, means trans women are excluded as deserving of protections. “In this context, the UCI Management Committee concluded, considering the remaining scientific uncertainties, that it was necessary to take this measure to protect the female class and ensure equal opportunities.”

Which is another way of saying, UCI chooses to treat trans women as men and chooses to discriminate against them in favor of cisgender women.

And yet, UCI president David Lappartient claimed in a statement that “the UCI would like to reaffirm that cycling — as a competitive sport, leisure activity or means of transport — is open to everyone, including transgender people, whom we encourage like everyone else to take part in our sport,” despite the fact he just banned trans women who have experienced puberty before transitioning.

As of press time, Killips hadn’t posted about the decision, but another trans cyclist, Jenna Lingwood of Portland, Ore., shared a photo on Instagram of her hugging her children, with a moving message:

“I will miss everything about this. I will miss finish line hugs with my family, friends and teammates. I will miss the common bond with my peers that we are all ultimately working towards the same goal of being better. I hate that there is so much division in our dying sport, over (literally) a few people that worked really hard to get good at something they like. I’m sad that I am not welcome in elite cycling and feel alienated from the sport as a whole. I’m looking forward to being angry about all of this someday because right now I’m so tired of crying. My head hurts from making tears all day and I want to think about something else.”

Victory and vindication for Caster Semenya as European Court of Human Rights Court rules Swiss ban on South African runner was discrimination

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STRASBOURG, France — Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya, who has been sidelined from her signature track and field event since 2019, has finally won an appeal of testosterone rules that the European Court of Human Rights say discriminated against her.

Even so, the South African runner cannot expect to be back in the 800 meter race anytime soon, according to track and field’s governing body.

That’s because Semenya’s case was solely against the government of Switzerland, whose Supreme Court upheld rules imposed by World Athletics, not against the sports organization itself. Although a 4-3 majority of judges on the European Court found “serious questions” about the validity of those rules, World Athletics said in reaction to the decision that its rules would remain in place, according to the Associated Press.

However, Tuesday’s ruling in Semenya’s favor on the complaint of discrimination has cast serious doubt about the regulations and how World Athletics, which enforces the rules, handled her appeal. The judges noted she was denied an “effective remedy” against that discrimination through the two previous cases she lost at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss supreme court.

Semenya has identified as female her entire life and her sex has been legally verified as female. But World Athletics changed its rules in 2019 that would have forced her to artificially suppress her natural testosterone to be allowed to compete in women’s competitions. Semenya refused to comply.

Although Semenya has never confirmed this, World Athletics says she has one of a number of conditions known as differences in sex development, or DSD. That condition typically results in a natural testosterone level higher than most other women competitors, in the typical male range. World Athletics claims that gives athletes with DSD an unfair advantage.

Restrictions on Semenya and the dozen or so other athletes with DSD — the majority of whom are Black or brown-skinned — as well as a ban on trans women athletes — went into effect on March 31, as the Los Angeles Blade reported.

But the European rights court ruled there was a lack of evidence that high natural testosterone actually gave athletes an advantage, and lambasted the CAS for not properly considering important factors such as the side effects of the hormone treatment and the difficulties for athletes to remain in compliance of the rules.

The government of Switzerland was ordered to pay Semenya the equivalent of $66K in Euros, to compensate for costs and expenses related to her appeal. The European rights court noted Semenya’s “high personal stakes” given how the regulations interrupted her career and affected her profession, according to the A.P.

Semenya is training to run at next year’s Olympics in Paris in longer events than the 800m contests where she won Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016. She did not defend her title at the Tokyo Olympics because of the testosterone regulations.

Whether the CAS or World Athletics is pressured to revisit its regulations remains unclear, but the sporting authority stood by them in a statement issued after the ruling Tuesday: “We remain of the view that the DSD regulations are a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of protecting fair competition in the female category as the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Swiss Federal Tribunal both found, after a detailed and expert assessment of the evidence.”

Women’s national 1500m champion Nikki Hiltz says of fan who brought Trans Pride flag to race: ‘They’re the reason I won’

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EUGENE, ORE. — Santa Cruz, Calif. native Nikki Hiltz is for the third time this year the women’s national 1500m champion, after a fast finish Saturday at the 2023 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships at the University of Oregon.

Hiltz, 25, who moved from San Diego to Flagstaff, Ariz. to train, broke free from the pack with a final burst of speed to win their first outdoor national title in 4:03.10. The win earned them a spot on Team USATF for the World Athletics Championships in Budapest next month, according to flotrack.com.

Hiltz came out as trans nonbinary in March 2021, as the Los Angeles Blade reported.

After the race, Hiltz told a reporter they spotted a fan with a Trans Pride flag in the stands, and took inspiration from that symbol.

“I saw that trans flag right when I came out before the race even started,” they said. “I don’t know their pronouns or who they are, but they brought that flag and I bet they’re here for me.”

🗣️ “I saw that trans flag…I thought I bet they brought that for me…I saw them after the race and gave them my bib…they were the reason I won, or at least one of them” 🏳️‍🌈@Nikki_Hiltz after running 4:03.10 at #USATFOutdoor to take the 1500m title!FULL INTERVIEW 🎥… pic.twitter.com/4jbj2MLEku

“I think there’s so much hate right now, and specifically the bills being passed for trans youth. I feel like the LGBTQ community needed a win and there’s so many things that go through your mind in the race, and for whatever reason that was kind of in the back of my mind,” said Hiltz.

One of eight women considered a potential winner in the race against defending champion Sinclaire Johnson, reigning world and Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu, and 2021 Olympians Cory McGee and Heather MacLean, Hiltz said they relied upon a strategy of a patience and timing.

“It was kind of like, staying calm in the beginning and then making big moves at the end,” Hiltz told reporters.

A post shared by Nikki Hiltz (@nikkihiltz)

From the starting gun, Laurie Barton of the Brooks Beasts Track Club jumped to a three-meter lead. But Hiltz did not react, and instead kept her eyes on Mu in second place at 400 meters, and stayed with McGee, Johnson, teenager Addy Wiley, and MacLean. Barton was still leading at 800 meters at the 2:12.29 mark, but by the time the field hit the top of the backstretch, the field had compressed back into a pack. Hiltz said later they knew that was how this race would end.

“Obviously, everyone in there is like a class act and has done incredible things,” Hiltz told reporters. “But I know that I’m a great runner, too, and I just had to believe in myself.”

At the bell signaling the final stretch, Wiley took the lead with Mu, and McGee, Hiltz and Johnson behind her. With the other runners out of contention at that point, the group of five women rounded the final bend. At the finish line, Wiley had fallen behind and wound up settling for fifth in 4:04.25. Johnson, Hiltz, Mu and McGee closed-in as they dashed for the tape.

“At that point, it’s just bodies,” Hiltz said.

Just feet from the finish line, Johnson ran out of gas and fell to the track to finish in fourth place at 4:03.49. Hiltz surged to the tape to get the win in 4:03.10. Mu ran a huge personal best in second at 4:03.44 and McGee finished third at 4:03.48.

“I don’t have words for it,” said Hiltz, when asked what they felt at the finish line as they shouted and smiled and raised their arms in victory. “I think relief,” they said. “So much relief, joy, every emotion.”

In 2021, Hiltz told the Blade their coming out definitely impacted their performance.

“I think with any sport, especially running, you bring your whole self to the starting line. It’s not like I’m bringing just the athlete part of Nikki; I’m bringing my whole identity. The closer I can be to myself and stay true to myself, the faster and the better I run, essentially,” said Hiltz.

“I am someone that runs with a lot of emotion and grit. And so, when I’m at war with myself or when I wasn’t out of the closet, it really shows on the track. And then when I’m at peace with myself and I’m living my most authentic life, that also really shows on the track,” they said.

In February, following their win in the indoor 1500m in Albuquerque, N.M., Hiltz posted a public thank you on Instagram to organizers and NBC Sports for getting their pronouns right.

“Thank you @usatf and @nbcolympics for using my correct pronouns on the broadcast last night. I can’t express how much it means to not only me but the entire queer community.”

Last year, Hiltz’s sponsor lululemon posted a salute on Instagram, quoting the athlete: “I’ve already won as long as I show up as myself.”

A post shared by lululemon (@lululemon)

Hiltz and their girlfriend, collegiate runner Emma Gee, who was the first out LGBTQ athlete at Brigham Young University, organized an annual event called the Pride 5K, which takes place in cities across the country this October.

A post shared by Emma Gee (@emma_gee1777)

OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe announced that following the conclusion of the 2023 NWSL season, she will retire from professional soccer

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SEATTLE — Out lesbian activist, anti-racist, transgender ally and two-time World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe announced on Instagram Saturday that this championship season will be her last.

“It is with a deep sense of peace and gratitude that I have decided this will be my final season playing this beautiful game,” Rapinoe wrote, in a post that featured a photo of the 38-year-old when the Redding, Calif. native was a little girl. “I never could have imagined the ways in which soccer would shape and change my life forever, but by the look on this little girl’s face, I think she knew all along.”

A post shared by Megan Rapinoe She/Her 🏳️‍🌈 (@mrapinoe)

“Congrats, baby!!” wrote Rapinoe’s fiancée, former WNBA star and Olympic Gold Medalist Sue Bird, on her Instagram post. “That little girl is going to continue to do so much good in this world (but she sure did kill it on the field). I love you!”

Bird told an interviewer last year if it were up to her, she would have married Rapinoe in 2021, but that most likely they won’t tie the knot until after this season.

Rapinoe met Bird at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and reportedly started dating that fall, but Bird didn’t come out as gay until July 2017, as the Blade reported. The following summer, Bird and Rapinoe became the first same-sex couple in ESPN’s The Body Issue. In 2019, Rapinoe posed for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, becoming that iconic magazine’s first out gay woman to do so. Last year, President Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“I want to thank my family for being by my side all these years. Thanks to all my teammates and coaches all the way back to my first days in Redding, on to college at the University of Portland and of course thanks to U.S. Soccer, the Seattle Reign and especially Sue, for everything,” said Rapinoe in a statement posted online by U.S. Soccer.

The organization hailed Rapinoe for “her amazing talents on the field, her creative goal scoring, her clutch performances in some of the biggest matches of her career,” and for her social justice work off the pitch, from LGBTQ+ rights to racial inequality, voter rights and gender and pay equity. “She leaves the game as one of the most impactful figures in the history of soccer in the United States and in the global women’s game.”

Rapinoe, one of Time Magazine’s 2023 Women of the Year honorees, was the first white athlete and the first woman to kneel during the National Anthem to show her solidarity with NFL player Colin Kaepernick.

“I’ve been able to have such an incredible career, and this game has brought me all over the world and allowed me to meet so many amazing people,” Rapinoe said in the statement from U.S. Soccer. “I feel incredibly grateful to have played as long as I have, to be as successful as we’ve been, and to have been a part of a generation of players who undoubtedly left the game better than they found it. To be able to play one last World Cup and one last NWSL season and go out on my own terms is incredibly special.”

She is scheduled to play in her final World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand. After that, Rapinoe is set to complete her historic soccer career in the National Women’s Soccer League and end the 2023 season with her long-time club, OL Reign. Although their last game will be in Chicago against the Red Stars on Oct. 15, the OL Reign announced the team will hold a “Forever Reign” celebration of Rapinoe’s career at their last home match at Lumen Field on Oct. 6 against the Washington Spirit.

“I will forever cherish the friendships and support over the years in this game,” she said, “and I am beyond excited for one last ride with the National Team and the Reign.”

Rapinoe has been a longtime advocate for transgender athletes, and just this week defended trans inclusion in sports in an interview with LinkedIn News: “I think a lot of athletes feel the same, they would give up any sort of championship so that a kid doesn’t feel like they don’t belong in the world.”

“You’ve given so much not only to soccer but to sports and the world beyond,” wrote trans trailblazer and author Schuyler Bailar in a comment on Rapinoe’s Instagram post. “Thank you for all that you are and all that you’ve done.”“So proud of you!” wrote USWNT teammate Ali Krieger of the NJ/NY Gotham FC, who announced in March that she, too, is retiring at the end of the season. “Most important, you’re an incredible human and friend.”

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