American runner Nikki Hiltz, who is nonbinary, advanced to the semifinals of the 1500-meters on Tuesday, finishing third in their heat.
Hiltz was born female and competes in the women’s category, but identifies as transgender and nonbinary, and supports trans women and girls in sports.
“I would never want my identity to be weaponized against my community,” the 29-year-old told reporters in Paris. “I think trans women are women, and they deserve to compete wherever they’re comfortable.”
Controversy over transgender women competing at the Olympics exploded in the women’s boxing competition, where Algerian Imane Khelif — who was also born female, but failed a gender confirmation test at the world championships last year — is in the 66 kilogram semifinal.
Khelif burst into tears after winning her last bout after suffering torrents of online abuse.
“The past week’s been hard and there’s been a lot of hate and transphobia and just a lot of ignorance,” Hiltz said. “I’ve had to, you know, put up some barriers and boundaries with social media and things like that. But I think I was gonna do that anyways.”
After their heat, Hiltz cast a jubilant figure.
“It was all about patience. This is incredible,” they told NBC. “I think I can officially call myself an Olympian now. It’s been a lot of patience this past month and then today in the race, that’s what I kept repeating to myself. Patient, be patient, be patient.”
Hiltz told reporters they hope rules in certain sports, including track, that make it harder for transgender women to compete are changed.
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“I don’t have all the answers on what that looks like, but I just know sports has provided me so much joy and life lessons along the way,” they said.
The semifinals for the women’s 1500 meters is on Thursday.
