Olympic hero Tamsyn Lewis questions the fairness of transgender athletes competing in women's sports - and says many don't speak out because of political correctness
- Tamsyn Lewis said there are too many unknowns regarding transgender athletes
- The 41-year-old questioned their impact on the fairness of women's competition
- The former Olympian said political correctness kept people quiet on the issue
Three-time Australian Olympian Tamsyn Lewis has questioned the fairness of transgender athletes being allowed to compete in women's sport.
The 41-year-old said there are too many unknowns regarding transgender and transitioning athletes to create a level playing field in women's competition.
The three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist told 2GB radio it was a politically charged and sensitive topic that many did not want to address.
Former Australian Olympian Tamsyn Lewis has questioned the fairness of transgender athletes competing in women's sport
'There's been a lot of people who are scared to come out and say anything because of political correctness,' she said.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic games will see a number of transgender competitors, with the IOC rules forcing female competitors to remain below testosterone guidelines to compete as women.
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Lewis believes the guidelines don't factor in the physical advantage of growing up and going through puberty as a male.
'If you've grown up a male and had testosterone your bone structure is different to the female, your upper body strength is going to remain, you've got greater lung capacity a larger heart size, there's too many unknowns about how much going through puberty and being born a male is going to effect your result,' she said.
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will compete at the Tokyo Olympics and was born a male named Gavin
Transgender woman Tiffany Abreu will compete for Brazil in the women's volleyball in Tokyo
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard and Brazilian volleyball player Tiffany Abreu will be among the transgender athletes to compete at Tokyo.
2GB host Ben Fordham argued Hubbard had an obvious physical advantage compared to the rest of her field, prompting Lewis to question whether the female category would remain fair with increasing transgender participants.
'If we don't take a stand, what's going to happen to the female category of sport?,' she said.
'You don't want to get to the point where we haven't tackled this issue head on and in a respectful manner, that in 20 years time we're seeing our kids grow up and compete in sports that they just actually can't win.'
Tamsyn Lewis crosses the line in the 4x400m womens final at the 2011 Zatopek Classic in Melbourne
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