Na Hwa-rin, a biological male, says that he felt at the age of 7 that he should have been born a female.
Na, 37, transitioned last year and is now officially recognized as a woman under South Korean law.
A lifelong cyclist, she wanted to continue competing, and after her gender change, she did so against biological women. However, she didn’t do it to compete herself and feel the exhilaration of victory, but to prove a point.
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Cyclists in Italy on May 11, 2023. (Luca Bettini/AFP via Getty Images)
Na, who comes from a Christian family, faced negative comments during her transition, but no one knew what she had been planning for more than two years.
She wanted to compete against women to prove that biological men are physically superior to biological women.
«I don’t have any unresolved feelings about winning because that’s not what I want anymore. My goal was to create controversy and make my story heard by competing,» Na said. korean times.
After her victory at the Gangwon Sports Festival, she admitted that she felt «more relieved than triumphant.»
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«I’m not honored. I’m not proud of myself at all,» she said. «I think other transgender athletes would feel the same way. They may not want to admit it, but they’re being selfish. There’s no honor as an athlete in that.»
With the victory, he qualified for the National Sports Festival, but declined the invitation.
«I don’t want to make an issue to the point of hurting other people,» he said.
Na says the committees should include a «third gender» category.
«It could be like we have multiple weight divisions in some sports… Under the current binary system, female athletes will be discouraged and their hard work may not be recognized due to the participation of transgender athletes. At the same time, trans women athletes, no matter how hard they’ve worked, will never be truly honored for their victories. Honor is the goal that all athletes aspire to achieve, but this is a situation where no one will be honored. I think that shouldn’t happen «.
Cyclists ride in Italy in 2023. (Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
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«Respect and harmony. Those are the core values of Olympism and sport.»