Caitlyn Jenner reacts to new NCAA transgender policy: 'Woke world gone wild'
Former Olympian tells 'America Reports' the NCAA only 'kicked the can down the road' with its new policy.
Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner condemned the NCAA's decision to allow the participation of biological males in women's sports Thursday, accusing the organization of "kicking the can down the road" to appease University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
"[I'm] disappointed," Jenner told "America Reports." "The NCAA just kicked the can down the road, and it’s unfortunate. I am out there to protect women's sports."
The new policy will allow transgender athletes to participate in sports on a sport-by-sport basis, similarly adopted by the U.S. and International Olympic committees. Transgender athletes will be required "to document sport-specific testosterone levels beginning four weeks before their sport's championship selections," the organization said.
NCAA CHANGES TRANSGENDER ATHLETE PARTICIPATION POLICY
Jenner called the decision a symptom of a "woke world gone wild."
"I don’t know why the governing bodies of many of the different organizations are so intent on getting such a small number of people [trans athletes]…why they’re bending over to this one person," she said, referring to Thomas. "It’s a woke world gone wild. It doesn’t have to be that way."
Lia Thomas of the Pennsylvania Quakers after competing in a freestyle event during a tri-meet against the Yale Bulldogs and the Dartmouth Big Green at Sheerr Pool on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania on January 8, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Hunter Martin/Getty Images)
Thomas previously competed as a man at Penn for two full seasons, most recently in 2019, but started on the Quakers’ women’s team this season after transitioning. She has since broken Ivy League records with national records in the crosshairs.
What the NCAA failed to consider, Jenner said, is that transgender women athletes who went through typical male puberty during adolescence still hold a competitive edge over their biologically female competitors, and one year of testosterone suppression therapy as required by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) isn’t enough to ensure fairness in women’s sports.
"In Lia Thomas’s case, I don’t care about her testosterone levels now for the last year or two. Honestly, I care about her testosterone levels for the first 16, 17 years of her life. That’s what we are fighting against here," she said.
Jenner said she declined an invitation to join an all-women's golf tournament because of the biological advantage she holds over other competitors, specifically when it comes to "body structure, the length of my arms, the size of my feet, the size of my hands."
Jenner said she declined an invitation to join an all-women's golf tournament because of the biological advantage she holds over other competitors. (Getty Images)
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"I obviously have been through all of it, I have no more testosterone going through my body," she said. "I just live on estrogen, and I can still hit the golf ball a long way. I got asked to play in the women’s tournament at my club and honestly, I declined because I did not think it was fair. I mean, I can outdrive all the girls by 100 yards. I can reach every par five in two. It’s just not fair. So, I would never play, you know, in a tournament with the women."
The retired decathlete expressed her support for Connecticut high school track star Chelsea Mitchell, who said she repeatedly found herself at a disadvantage competing against transgender athletes.
"I feel for her. I think she is absolutely 100% right," Jenner said. "She was deprived of an opportunity because of a transgender athlete, and it just doesn’t have to be that way."
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Jenner called on the NCAA to reevaluate the policy and make the right decision in defense of women's sports,
"Look at how hard women have fought over the last 30, 40 years," she said. "I remember back in the 1980s and Donna de Verona who worked so hard on Title IX for equality and pay and getting women into sports…. why do we want to ruin sports for just a couple of people?"