The Australian Gymnastics Federation has formally determined to permit males to compete in opposition to ladies and even enable males to alter within the ladies’s locker rooms. And Martina Navratilova isn’t a fan.
The tennis legend took to her X account on Thursday to criticize the group for adopting a coverage that she believes will throw females “underneath the bus” and find yourself excluding them from their designated sports activities.
“To say this is not going to finish effectively is an understatement,” Navratilova wrote. “To say Australian Gymnastics has thrown females and women underneath the bus is an understatement. What about you guys??? This ‘inclusion’ will really exclude organic ladies and, most of all, women. #WhatabouttheGirls???”
To say this is not going to finish effectively is an understatement. To say that Australian Gymnastics has thrown females and women underneath the bus is an understatement. What’s incorrect with you guys??? This “inclusion” would really exclude organic ladies and, most of all, women. #What about girls? ???? https://t.co/eZriHAOKsv
-Martina Navratilova (@martina) October 5, 2023
The unique publish by outspoken transport maker Ollie London contained worrying particulars in regards to the implications of the brand new rule.
“93% of the 800,000 Australians taking part in gymnastics are underneath the age of 12,” London wrote. “Below the brand new guidelines, organic males might be allowed to compete in any class that aligns with their gender id and might be allowed to put on ladies’s uniforms. They will even be allowed to undress in ladies’s locker rooms and showers, no matter their genitals.
Gymnastics Australia’s choice contrasts with that of World Aquatics and World Athletics, two worldwide sports activities governing our bodies in swimming and observe and area which have labored to maintain males out of ladies’s sports activities.