The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that it is moving closer to protecting the women’s category at the Olympic Games. That is a long-awaited step in the right direction.
I would be very happy if the IOC would take the next step. But even more, I would like to hear the voices of elite female athletes who are done compromising fairness and safety, and finally say it out loud. It’s time to tell our side.
I have spent 20 years of my life competing at the highest level of gymnastics. It has been an incredible journey – one that has shaped me in every way possible – but also brought its fair share of challenges.
I qualified for the 2016 Olympic team, but I was passed over and moved to an alternate site. I watched from the bench as my teammates won gold.
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Imane Khelif of Algeria, left, fights Liu Yang of China in the women’s gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Games. (Sebastian Kahnert/Photo Alliance via Getty Images)
I walked away, not completely satisfied. At the University of Utah, I became a two-time national champion and a 26-time All-American.
At the age of 22, I returned to elite gymnastics to pursue my dream: competing in the Games. Within a few months I was back on the national team and things were looking great with my training.
But then COVID-19 happened, postponing the Games. And I had to train for another year, which seems like dog years, in gymnastics. The challenges didn’t stop there.
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Before Tokyo, I contracted COVID-19, was hospitalized with pneumonia, and trained through a painful bone spur. Nothing felt like it was going my way.
My motto at that time became ‘never give up’. And that’s what took me through the rollercoaster of the Olympics – from booking a flight home, to publicly retiring, to suddenly being called back as a replacement on vault… and walking away with a silver medal.
Since then, life has been a little different. I’ve faced new challenges, found new purpose, and discovered true joy in becoming a mother – and in rediscovering who I am beyond the competition.
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I want to be a voice for elite female athletes – to share a message of strength, courage and hope for the next generation of girls and to stand up for their future.
No one teaches you how to do this – to speak up, to tell the uncomfortable truth – but I learn from it. I’m grateful to be able to use my platform for something that really matters: protecting women’s sports and being a positive role model for the next generation of girls.
At the age of 22, I returned to elite gymnastics to pursue my dream: competing in the Games. Within a few months I was back on the national team and things were looking great with my training.
This is a new chapter for me, and yes, it is scary. I know how loud and brutal the crowd can be. But I also know how important it is to say something.
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There are things I’ve always believed in, but haven’t always said out loud. Now I’m finding my voice – and I hope others will too.
The IOC’s recent announcement gives me hope that meaningful change is possible. Now it’s up to all of us – the silent majority of female athletes, Team USA, and those who still train at the elite level – to speak out and demand that the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) enforce policies that protect fairness and safety in every women’s sport.
Olympic athletes know that if a sport allowed match fixing or doping, the USOPC would never stand by and do nothing. The same standard should apply to safety and fairness in the women’s competition.
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In Olympic gymnastics, women do not compete on the rings. Why? Because men are stronger than women, and events are designed around physiological realities. It’s that simple.
In Olympic athletics, World Athletics recently reported that more than 50 men have beaten women in the past 20 years.
Female athletes will not forget that at the Paris Olympics, two boxers who tested as men – Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting – competed and won gold medals in the women’s category. The IOC, NBC and Meta shamed the women who protested.
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I’m sharing these examples from three different Olympic sports because it’s clear that this problem is widespread. Individual sports cannot solve it alone.
I want to be a voice for elite female athletes – to share a message of strength, courage and hope for the next generation of girls and to stand up for their future.
There is currently only one competitive woman who has come out to open the debate on clear and fair standards at the professional competition level. That is Elizabeth Eddy, the footballer of Angel City FC. And when she did, she was publicly shamed by her teammates.
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Athletes get injured every day, but we shouldn’t accept madness. When men compete in the women’s categories it is unfair and unsafe, and everyone knows it.
We can’t leave Eddy, or any other athlete, out to dry and battle it out alone, or worse, let her give up.
