06-24-2022, 06:06 AM
The 'Jenner Factor' is interesting.
I'm a bit of a 'Track and Field' tragic and as a struggling young 'very, very average' Decathlete my prime years coincided with Bruce Jenner's.
As a result he represented the absolute pinnacle of the sport.
He was the one we all aspired to emulate.
Now it goes without dispute that had Jenner 'transitioned' prior to puberty he/she never would have achieved that level of performance.
The unknown is how C.Jenner would have performed in female competition.
She may still have been a high performance performer...and under the guidelines adopted by FINA in swimming that would have been OK.
Here's where it gets a bit grey (and I use the term intentionally)
At Masters level of competition the athletes take such activities with a similar level of seriousness as they do at younger levels.
In fact it's quite often performers who were average athletes at Open level who excel in their older years due to maintaining a good level of fitness and training.
Jenner is now in her 70s.
I'm not sure of her level of fitness but I'd be pretty confident in guessing that simply through maintaining a minimum level, and given her technical 'muscle memory', she would be more than just competitive and challenge some of the records in the female 70-75 divison (especially in events like the throws.)
Some of us participate in sport for the fun of it.
But at all levels we have some folks for who such activities are a major part of their life.
It seems to be at the level just below 'elite' where the major issues and resentment occur.
The issue for me seems to be that while there is concern for the mental health of the transitioning athlete, there also needs to be concern for the mental health of the athletes they compete against.
I'm not sure how you balance that.
Open competition isn't the answer.
The fact is that this only goes in the one direction in terms of concern...the male transitioning to a female.
Former females competing in male competition isn't an issue.
The only realistic solution though would seem to be a 'trans specific' competition, or in fact two sets of competitions.
Then you probably run into the problem of lack of numbers to make this viable.
I'm a bit of a 'Track and Field' tragic and as a struggling young 'very, very average' Decathlete my prime years coincided with Bruce Jenner's.
As a result he represented the absolute pinnacle of the sport.
He was the one we all aspired to emulate.
Now it goes without dispute that had Jenner 'transitioned' prior to puberty he/she never would have achieved that level of performance.
The unknown is how C.Jenner would have performed in female competition.
She may still have been a high performance performer...and under the guidelines adopted by FINA in swimming that would have been OK.
Here's where it gets a bit grey (and I use the term intentionally)
At Masters level of competition the athletes take such activities with a similar level of seriousness as they do at younger levels.
In fact it's quite often performers who were average athletes at Open level who excel in their older years due to maintaining a good level of fitness and training.
Jenner is now in her 70s.
I'm not sure of her level of fitness but I'd be pretty confident in guessing that simply through maintaining a minimum level, and given her technical 'muscle memory', she would be more than just competitive and challenge some of the records in the female 70-75 divison (especially in events like the throws.)
Some of us participate in sport for the fun of it.
But at all levels we have some folks for who such activities are a major part of their life.
It seems to be at the level just below 'elite' where the major issues and resentment occur.
The issue for me seems to be that while there is concern for the mental health of the transitioning athlete, there also needs to be concern for the mental health of the athletes they compete against.
I'm not sure how you balance that.
Open competition isn't the answer.
The fact is that this only goes in the one direction in terms of concern...the male transitioning to a female.
Former females competing in male competition isn't an issue.
The only realistic solution though would seem to be a 'trans specific' competition, or in fact two sets of competitions.
Then you probably run into the problem of lack of numbers to make this viable.