Olympic champion calls on parents to protect women’s sports: ‘Wake up, mothers and fathers’
Heather Hamilton
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Olympic gold medalist Donna de Varona called on parents to rise up in support of protecting women’s sports.
While speaking on the Brian Kilmeade Show, de Varona praised Riley Gaines for her advocacy and being willing to speak out against biological males who identify as transgender women participating in women’s athletics.
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“She’s got a lot of us veterans behind her. But where is middle America? Wake up, mothers and fathers, and start speaking out,” the Olympic champion said.
De Varona swam in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, earning two gold medals in the women’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay and the women’s 400 individual medley while setting an Olympic record during that summer’s games. De Varona also established and served as the first president of the Women’s Sports Foundation while working on Title IX for 50 years.
She said she believes creating a separate space for transgender athletes to compete is “reasonable.”
“Every young kid should have sports, but it doesn’t have to be in the women’s category in every sport,” de Varona said. “You see the New York City Marathon — everybody runs. What’s the problem? In fact, the marathon opened up a separate space for those that are nonbinary and don’t identify with their birth sex.”
“But when you get to extreme sports, when you get to scholarships, when you get to fairness and safety, we have to come up with a reasonable way to deal with this population,” she said.
De Varona further noted that the call to protect women’s sports should not be weaponized.
“There’s a way to include and not get involved in weaponizing this whole issue. You just have to look at the eligibility requirements in sports. You can’t take drugs to fit into a category. It’s simple,” she said.
The Olympian added that a “fair and safe” sporting environment can have lifelong benefits.
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“I don’t think you’d be seeing us dominate in the Olympics, nor would you see professional basketball, nor would you understand the foundational values that sports offer girls as they transition through life and find themselves in corporate America as leaders, as politicians, as astronauts. It’s amazing what the sport experience can do for girls and women if they’re offered a fair and safe environment,” de Varona said.
Gaines began speaking out against transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports after then-University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas won an NCAA Division I national championship in 2022.