Olympian Sharron Davies claims trans activists have targeted her children’s school over her views on who can participate in women’s sports
- The retired Olympian says activists also branded her a ‘bigot’ and ‘homophobe’
Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies has claimed trans activists have targeted her children’s school and abused them after she weighed in on the debate about who can compete in women’s sport.
The retired 60-year-old has faced backlash after speaking out against male-born athletes who identify as female competing in sport and said she has been called ‘every name under the sun’ by furious trans activists.
It came after Davies, who attended 12 consecutive Olympic Games during her illustrious career, supported the decision to prevent trans cyclist Emily Bridges from racing against female riders because ‘we are physiologically different people’.
Speaking of the abuse she received following this, she told the Off Air podcast: ‘Just activists ringing every single job I have, ringing every single charity, ringing my children’s schools, abusing my kids, calling me every name under the sun.
‘[They say] I am a bigot, I’m a homophobe, obviously a transphobe. I’m even a racist which I find hilarious because I have got mixed-race kids.
Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies (pictured) has claimed trans activists have targeted her children’s school and abused them after she weighed in on the debate about who can compete in women’s sport
Davies supported the decision to prevent trans cyclist Emily Bridges (pictured) from racing against female riders because
‘They use these terms not to actually mean it, they use it to bully. They use it to shut you up and to stop you trying to debate and present the science.’
READ MORE: Restaurant owner who hosted Sharron Davies and Daley Thompson for lunch slams trans activists after ‘being told to kill himself’ amid series of one-star reviews
Davies, who has won numerous major titles and medals, including five World Masters records, and was awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II for Services to Sport, has three children and one granddaughter.
She had eldest children Elliot and Grace, who are in their late 20s, with British 400m runner Derek Raymond. Her youngest, Finlay, is a teenager and his father is cricketer Tony Kingston.
Davies branded the abuse levelled at her as misogynistic and claimed a lot of male athletes have not backed her in her fight against trans women competing in sport.
She said: ‘I think they keep their heads down because they don’t want it to affect their revenue.
‘In 2017 to 2018, over a weekend I contacted 60 of my friends in the world of sport.
‘Every single one of those is an Olympic medallist or a world champion and every single one of those is a household name. More than half of them were men.
‘Only five of that 60 have ever put their head above the parapet.’
Former Olympic champion Sharron Davies has warned the trans row engulfing sport is ‘unfair’ on aspiring female athletes
Emily Bridges, then Zach, pictured competing in the Tour de Gwent on April 15, 2018 in Usk, Wales
Davies spoke about the decathlete and Olympics legend Daley Thompson being one of the few who have spoken out over the issue.
However, she said the 65-year-old has not faced the same abuse as she has.
What’s the debate on trans women in sport all about?
It’s a subject that has sparked a huge debate globally: should trans athletes participate in women’s sport?
Huge female sporting names like former British World Champion marathon runner Paula Radcliffe and tennis legend Martina Navratilova are among the high-profile critics.
They argue that trans women have an unfair physical advantage over those who were born female due to the impact of testosterone on their bodies.
In 2019, Navratilova said ‘it’s insane and it’s cheating’ for transgender women to be allowed to compete in women’s sport.
Also speaking out in 2019. Radcliffe insisted ‘there are facts that clearly point to the advantages that testosterone give in terms of performance’ for trans athletes over their non-trans competitors.
In America, several high-level trans athletes, including swimmer Lia Thomas and weightlifter Laurel Hubbard have faced criticism over their sporting records.
While in the UK, trans cyclist Emily Bridges has faced her own scrutiny.
She set a national junior men’s record over 25 miles in 2018, but came out as a transgender woman in October 2020 and began hormone therapy last year to reduce her testosterone levels.
Ms Bridges was banned from competing in her first women’s event in Derby – when she was due to face five-time Olympic champion Dame Laura Kenny – after cycling’s global governing body decided she was not eligible to race because she was still registered as a male cyclist.
Hitting out at the decision, Ms Bridges branded the national body as a ‘failed organisation’ – as she admitted she was now contemplating quitting the sport altogether in a blistering statement on Instagram earlier this year.
‘You don’t care about making sport more diverse, you want to make yourself look better and you’re even failing at that. Cycling is still one of the whitest, straightest sports out there, and you couldn’t care less,’ she said.
She said: ‘Daley gets a hundredth of the abuse I get, and he has exactly the same views and says exactly the same things.
‘It feels like it is totally and utterly a men’s rights movement. Historically women, get hit over the head with this ‘be kind’ slogan.
‘Yet if you turn around to men and you said ‘Well, let’s be kind to Lance Armstrong. He was only cheating a little bit – it’s not going to matter. He’s only got a one per cent advantage on us – let him carry on’.
‘They would just laugh in your face.’
Davies, who now works for BBC Sport has continuously spoken out about the issues of biological men in women’s sport and has just released a book in which she discusses the challenges it poses.
Earlier this year, British Cycling moved to change their current men’s category to an ‘open’ category, where transgender women can compete against other male-born riders, while the female category will be reserved for those who were female at birth.
The move was slammed by transgender cyclist Emily Bridges, who blasted the national body in a blistering statement on Instagram.
‘Does it surprise me that the same organisation funded directly by a state that ships vulnerable refugees to Rwanda, violently clamps down on any political dissent that they disapprove of, or starves their people? No, of course, it doesn’t,’ she said.
‘The same organisation with actively homophobic coaches, who encouraged eating disorders and did nothing about any bullying between its riders.
‘You don’t care about making sport more diverse, you want to make yourself look better and you’re even failing at that. Cycling is still one of the whitest, straightest sports out there, and you couldn’t care less.’
But speaking to LBC in May, Davies backed the decision by British Cycling and said: ‘I don’t think Emily Bridges should be allowed to compete with women. I think she should be allowed to compete, absolutely, and it’s really important we make all sport inclusive.
‘However, having a female category and an open category enables everyone to do sport fairly. What sort of message are we sending to young girls if we say to them that males are due and worthy of fair sport, but females are not worthy of fair sport. What sort of message is that for any young aspiring athlete?
‘Yes I feel sorry that Emily has gone through what she has over the last couple of years. However, I feel more sorry for all those young girls who are expected to move over within their own category of sport.’
British Cycling’s new rules are set to come into effect at the end of 2023.
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