40 former swimmers, including a number of Olympians, as well as past NCAA champions, and even a USA Swimming team director, raise grave questions regarding NCAA's rules for transgender athletes, as per MSN.com.
“It's hard to express the anguish the women's swim community has experienced this past week watching the 2022 NCAA Swim & Dive Championships,” the letter says.
Former NCAA winner Marshi Smith told Fox News that the group decided to come out and speak because “individually we felt like we didn't have a voice. We weren't being asked our opinions or possible solutions to what was going on.”
“We are asking the NCAA: Do we have a voice?” Smith said.
“Since the adoption of Title nine, young mothers like myself…and most of the women from the University of Arizona on our list have small children, for the first time ever we feel like our daughters may not have the same opportunities for success that we did,” Smith stated. “It's something that has motivated us to speak out publicly.”
Smith took home the NCAA 100-meter backstroke title in 2005. She was enrolled at the University of Arizona on a full athletic scholarship.
The NCAA has not responded to the letter that was recently posted; however, Smith received a reply by NCAA president Mark Emmert.
In his reply, Emmert insisted that the organization is following the research.
Emmert emphasized the fact that “the Board of Governors firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports.”
The president continued to state that “the NCAA's current policy is anchored in the evolving science on this issue and in the sport-specific policies of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee's national governing bodies.”
Smith, however, slammed the NCAA's claims that they follow the science, and stated she is not convinced the notion that “a biological man competing in female sports is fair.”
The former NCAA champion added that the women who signed her letter have demonstrated excellence and experiences that the NCAA should take note of.
“The experience and wisdom of these women is really unmatched,” she stated. “We have determined that the best course of action right now would be to err on the side of fairness across the board and that means that women are not asked to forfeit our titles, records, scholarships at this point.”
