Tennis legend slams major newspaper over controversial sports terminology

Famous tennis champion disagrees with newspaperʼs word choice in college volleyball coverage. The debate centers around a trans athleteʼs participation in womens collegiate sports

November 30 2024 , 04:37 AM  •  215 views

Tennis legend slams major newspaper over controversial sports terminology

Yesterday a well-known newspaper got into hot water for its word-choices in a college sports story: The paper used non-standard terms to describe female athletes which caught attention of tennis legend Martina Navratilova

The story focused on San Jose State Universitys volleyball team; where Blaire Fleming (a trans athlete) plays. Some teams chose to skip matches against them which led to the teams auto-advancement to the Mountain-West Conference finals

A group of people including an ex-coach and team-mate filed a legal case: claiming Title XI violations but earlier this week a judge said Fleming can keep playing. The NCAA rules say trans players need testosterone below 10 nanomoles per liter; which is four-times higher than typical ranges for females

It is insane that hundreds of athletes who have changed gender by declaration and limited hormone treatment have already achieved honors as women that were beyond their capabilities as men

Navratilova wrote about 5 years ago

The tennis star (who won 18 grand-slams) has been clear about her views on this topic before - she thinks letting trans women compete in womens sports isnt fair. Her recent criticism shows she hasnt changed her mind on this hot-button issue