Nikki Hiltz was hailed as a transgender trailblazer after qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team, but the world-class middle-distance runner has exposed what critics describe as the gender-identity movement’s double-standard when it comes to sports.
Hiltz, a 29-year-old biological female, continued to run in the women’s field after coming out as transgender and nonbinary in 2021, even as many male-born transgender athletes such as Lia Thomas compete against women based on gender identity.
Hiltz has embraced the role of LGBTQ pioneer, writing “I [heart] the gays” on the athletes’ signature board shortly after winning the 1,500-meter race June 30 at the Olympic trials held at the University of Oregon.
“This is bigger than just me. It’s the last day of Pride Month,” Hiltz, who uses “they/them” pronouns, told NBC Sports. “I wanted to run this one for my community.”
Twelve-time All-American swimmer Riley Gaines congratulated Hiltz on making Team USA while calling out the “hypocrisy and double standard.”
“A female who identifies as trans earned a spot on the U.S. women’s Olympic team,” said Gaines, host of OutKick’s “Gaines on Girls” podcast, on X. “I wonder why she didn’t try out for the men’s team. It’s almost as if she understands she would never be able to compete or succeed at [the] same level against the men. Telling.”
Conservative pundit Kaeley Triller asked: “Have you ever noticed that when a trans identified athlete is actually a dude, he will always insist on competing against the women?”
“And when a trans identified athlete is actually a female, she will compete against the women, too,” Ms. Triller wrote on X. “It’s almost like they innately understand the advantages/limitations of their respective sexes.”
A female who identifies as trans earned a spot on the U.S. women’s Olympic team.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) July 2, 2024
I wonder why she didn’t try out for the men’s team. It’s almost as if she understands she would never be able to compete or succeed at same level against the men.
Tellinghttps://t.co/M5Lj9G0aEi
The Washington Blade, an LGBTQ publication, dinged Hintz’s critics, saying “[r]ight-wing outlets and anti-trans activist Riley Gaines have commented on their victory and questioned their gender identity and decision to compete against cisgender women.”
Hiltz isn’t alone. The list includes WNBA star Layshia Clarendon, who announced she was transgender and nonbinary in 2020, and Quinn, the one-name soccer player who won Olympic gold with the Canadian women’s team in 2021, a year after coming out as transgender and nonbinary.
Their success has come at the expense of key LGBTQ talking points, including the contention that requiring transgender athletes to compete based on birth sex versus gender identity is both offensive and discriminatory.
Also taking a hit is the “transphobia” argument, given that foes of male-born transgender athletes in women’s sports have no objection to biological females such as Hiltz competing against women.
The Independent Council on Women’s Sports, or ICONS, emphasized that it “supports equal rights for fair and ethical sports for all female athletes, regardless of how they self-identify.”
“We congratulate Nikki Hiltz on qualifying for the women’s Olympic track team,” ICONS said in a statement. “Hiltz’s inclusion on Team USA highlights the ability of athletes to participate in their appropriate sex category and thrive in sport.”
Why is it OK for Hiltz to compete against women but not for the male-born Thomas to compete against men? The answer may lie in Hiltz’s identification as nonbinary, which apparently gives transgender athletes a certain flexibility.
In a 2021 post on Instagram, Hiltz described herself as gender-fluid, saying that sometimes she feels like a “powerful queen,” while other days she feels like a “guy being a dude” or “outside the gender binary entirely,” prompting an eye-roll from OutKick writers.
“What’s fascinating about Hiltz is that she clearly identifies as a woman when she competes in athletics against other women,” said OutKick writer Dan Zaksheske. “Apparently, those days when she wakes up feeling like ‘a guy being a dude’ never include race day.”
Hiltz would have had no chance of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the men’s field. Hiltz’s first-place time in the 1500m was 3:55.33, or 25 seconds slower than the first-place men’s time of 3:30.59 notched by Cole Hocker at the U.S. trials. The slowest time in the 12-man field was 3:39.08.
Hiltz did not respond to a request for comment.
Staying in the women’s lane has given Hiltz a chance to win an Olympic medal, but it also means the former University of Arkansas standout has had to delay gender-transition procedures.
“Going to the Olympics is such a dream of mine,” Hiltz told Runner’s World in a 2023 interview. “But it’s also such a dream of mine to take testosterone or grow facial hair or have top surgery, and so I think sometimes I can really resent this sport.”
After retiring, Hiltz said, “I know exactly what I’m gonna do. I can take testosterone.”
At least two elite female-to-male transgender athletes have walked the talk by entering the men’s field, with limited success.
Chris Mosier, a biological female who came out as transgender in 2010, earned a spot on Team USA’s men’s sprint-duathlon team in the age 35-39 category for the 2016 World Championships. Mosier also competed in the 2020 U.S. Olympic trials for men’s racewalking, but withdrew because of injury.
Swimmer Schuyler Bailar was recruited for the Harvard University women’s team but offered a spot on the men’s side after transitioning in 2015, becoming the first known NCAA Division I female-to-male transgender athlete to compete in men’s sports.
The former girls’ swimming standout did not win a race in four years at Harvard, despite taking NCAA-approved levels of testosterone as part of the gender-transition process.
“My goal to myself, because it’s not realistic for me to win anything right now, at all, is to try to beat at least one person in every race,” Bailar said in a 2016 interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
World Athletics, which governs international track and field, tightened its transgender policy last year, banning transgender athletes who have undergone male puberty from competing in female world-rankings competitions.
ICONS urged the International Olympic Committee, which has deferred decisions on transgender eligibility to the individual sports’ governing bodies, to follow the World Athletics lead.
“World Athletics has taken steps to provide eligibility boundaries that begin to protect the integrity of women’s track and field, thereby allowing athletes like Hiltz the opportunity to excel alongside other female athletes,” the council said. “The next urgent step for the IOC is to guarantee female athletes in every sport a level playing field by clarifying that all women’s Olympic competitions are for women only.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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