Trans row as Sharron Davies lambasts BBC’s director of sport over ‘offensive’ comment

by Admin
June 13, 2024

Sharron Davies has taken a swipe at the BBC’s new director of sport after he made a “massively offensive” comment in 2019.

Alex Kay-Jelski wrote an article stating that the likes of Davies and Martina Navratilova were “not experts” on the issue of trans competitors in women’s events.

His piece, written in The Times, had also suggested having separate categories for trans athletes was similar to having “special categories for Jamaican sprinters and Ethiopian marathon runners”.

The Olympic silver medallist said the comments were “massively offensive” as she questioned the broadcaster’s decision.

Sharron Davies hit out at the BBC’s new appointment

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“I would like to know, who is an expert then? Between us, me and Martina Navratilova have 100 years in elite sport”, she said.

“We were winning awards before this guy was even born. She has nearly 50 grand slam titles, I have medals from nearly every single event.

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“I spent 20 years racing East German athletes, pumped full of testosterone who beat many of my friends into positions that would have changed their lives if they won the medals they should have.

“I have got a best selling book which I spent a year researching for. You kind of wonder what it takes to be an expert.”

She added: “To be fair to him, the article was written in 2019, but the thing I take most offence to is he compared men identifying as women to Jamaican and Ethiopian athletes being able to compete.

“My daughter is mixed race and does track and field, I take massive offence to that. I think it’s a racist comment.”

Lia Thomas dominated the NCAA Swimming Championships in 2022Getty

The swimming legend works as a poolside reporter for the broadcaster and told GB News she had written to the corporation’s director-general Tim Davie demanding an explanation.

It was confirmed earlier this week the BBC will also have Martina Navratilova as part of its time for its Wimbledon coverage.

Kay-Jelski, who worked as sports editor at The Times, started his new role at the BBC earlier this month.

Davies has been an outspoken voice on the matter of trans athletes taking part in women’s sports, and lauded the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to rule against Lia Thomas’s legal case against World Aquatics.

The governing body voted in 2022 to stop trans women from competing in women’s elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty.

The 25-year-old was attempting to overturn the ban, arguing the rules were discriminatory.