Head of Team GB Olympic cycling calls for transgender rule change

The head of British Cycling’s Olympic and Paralympic programme has signed a letter calling for a rule change that would stop transgender cyclist Emily Bridges from competing in women’s events.

Sara Symington, who rode at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and is now one of the most senior figures in British sport, is among 76 woman who have urged cycling’s governing body, the UCI, to rescind its rules for trans women to “guarantee fairness for female athletes”.

Trans women are allowed to race in the female category if they reduce their testosterone levels to below 5 nmol/L for at least 12 months. However, the UCI president, David Lappartient, said last week that the sport’s rules were “probably not enough” to balance fairness and inclusivity.

In their letter, the signatories – which include multiple Olympians, academics and researchers – say those words must now be matched by immediate action. “We believe that rule 13.5.015 does not guarantee female athletes ‘fair and meaningful competition that displays and rewards the fundamental values of the meaning of the sport’,” the letter states.

“We believe that the rule is asymmetric and thus discriminatory in that it advantages only biological male athletes by providing them greater opportunity to compete and enjoy the rewards of sport at its highest level.”

The letter says that unless the UCI can provide “robust scientific evidence that the rule guarantees fairness for female athletes”, it should rescind 13.5.015 immediately “and implement eligibility criteria for the female category that is based on female biological characteristics”.

The notable intervention comes less than a week after Bridges, who set a national junior men’s record over 25 miles in 2018, was temporarily barred