Transgender hurdler CeCe Telfer is determined to take “all the records” in the upcoming women’s indoor track and field season after international rule changes prevented the male-born athlete from competing in the women’s U.S. Olympic trials.
The first biological male to win an NCAA women’s title, Telfer became ineligible for the Olympics last year after World Athletics, the global track-and-field authority, banned athletes who have gone through male puberty from elite women’s international competition.
Telfer, 29, also lost out on a chance to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after failing to clear USA Track and Field’s testosterone standard, but that doesn’t mean the hurdler is giving up.
“I look forward to indoor track, because 2024 indoors is going to be epic,” Telfer said in a June 13 interview with the LGBTQ publication Them. “My dreams were taken away from me once again. So I plan on going back to New England, hitting up all the indoor competitions, and taking all the names, all the records, and everything.”
Since winning the 2019 NCAA Division II women’s 400-meter hurdles, the former Franklin Pierce University student has competed as an “unattached” athlete, meaning one not affiliated with any collegiate program. Such events are not governed by World Athletics regulations.
By competing in New England, Telfer also avoids states with Fairness in Women’s Sports laws requiring scholastic athletes to compete based on birth sex. So far 24 Republican-controlled states — and no Democrat-led states — have passed such measures.
“That’s what’s burning this fire in my heart and in my body,” Telfer said. “So it’s keeping me going to know that I can go to indoor competitions and still be the girl to talk about, period.”
The interview coincided with the release of Telfer’s autobiography, “Make It Count: My Fight to Become the First Transgender Olympic Runner” (Grand Central Publishing), released June 18.
Advocates for single-sex female sports accused Telfer of being a so-so male athlete who found success only after transitioning to female.
Before transitioning in 2018, the athlete then known as Craig Telfer ranked 200th in 2016 and 390th in 2017 in the men’s Division II 400-meter hurdles.
“Mediocre male sports cheat (Cece Telfer), is threatening to enter all the competitions for women & girls, and beat them, again,” the Biology Rules Ok account wrote on X.
“I plan on going back to New England, hitting up all the indoor competitions, and taking all the names, all the records, and everything.”
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 22, 2024
Entitlement? Absolutely.
Detached from reality? 100%.
Narcissism? Reeking of it.https://t.co/9hN4dLWCfY
Telfer reported being “heartbroken” and “distraught” by moves to prevent male-to-female transgender athletes from competing based on gender identity.
In April, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, a small schools conference, barred male-born athletes from women’s sports, while the NCAA has come under pressure to do the same.
“Because I’m like, why are we going back? Why are we reverting? We’re literally going back in history,” Telfer said. “This is not real life, because we were moving forward and now we’re moving backwards. This is scary.”
The New Hampshire Legislature recently passed a bill now headed to the desk of Republican Gov. Chris Sununu that would require athletes in grades 5-12 to compete based on sex at birth, but would not affect collegiate sports.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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