This week, transgender female cyclist Na Hwa-rin, who transitioned last year and is officially recognized as a woman by South Korean law, competed against fellow women and won the Gangwon Sports Festival. But she’s not proud of the victory. In fact, she did it to prove a point.
Na Hwa-rin may have won the race, but for her, the satisfaction did not come from the victory but to “stir controversy” and prove a point.
“I have no unresolved feelings over winning because that’s no longer what I want. My goal was to stir controversy and get my story heard by competing,” Na told the Korean Times.
“I am not honored. I am not proud of myself at all,” Na said. “I believe other transgender athletes would feel the same way. They may not want to admit it, but they’re being selfish. There is no honor as an athlete in that.”
After winning the race, Na also qualified for the National Sports Festival. But she has declined that invitation because she has proved her point already.
“I don’t want to make an issue to the point where I harm other people,” she said.
As for what she thinks should be done about transgender athletes in the future, Na thinks there should be a “third gender” category.
“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.”
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