CAITLYN JENNER WILL be allowed to keep her Olympic gold medal.
The International Olympic Committee has said the fact Jenner competed as a man when winning a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Olympic Games, breaking a world record in the process, will have no effect on the title.
The IOC confirmed its stance after a petition was started calling for Jenner’s medal to be revoked.
Mark Adams, IOC Communications Director, told the UK Independent: “Bruce Jenner won his gold medal at the 1976 Olympic Games and there is no issue for the IOC.”
More than 13,700 people had signed the petition at the time of publication.
The petition read:
It has recently come to light that gold medalist Bruce Jenner is in fact transgender, and therefore, identifies as a woman. We congratulate Ms. Jenner on these new developments and wish her the best. However, this creates somewhat of a problem as Ms. Jenner (as talented as she is) claims that she has always believed herself to be truly female, and therefore, was in violation of committee rules regarding women competing in men’s sports and vice versa.
Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that we must ask whether or not it is proper that Ms. Jenner should retain her olympic records in light of this, as we must now either claim that Bruce Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner are two entirely different people (which we know is not true), or that Bruce Jenner was, in fact, a woman participating in a men’s event. It is only fair to all involved that women receive their credit as champions of the Decathalon and that the men racing Ms. Jenner are not expected to compete with a superior, streamlined being such as herself.
We urge Ms. Jenner to support the transgender community by giving up the medals earned by competing against the wrong gender.
Thank you, and congratulations to Ms. Jenner for her courage!
Jenner publicly revealed herself as Caitlyn for the first time this week on the cover of Vanity Fair, receiving widespread praise – including this comment from US President Barack Obama:
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