Former Olympic athletes Sharron Davies and Mara Yamauchi speak about the importance of maintaining female sporting categories
Sharron Davies claims her children’s school has been targeted by trans activists after she shared her views on who can compete in women’s sport

Activists have allegedly branded the olympian a ‘bigot’ and ‘homophobe’

Sharron Davies claims her children’s school has been targeted by trans activists after she shared her views on who can compete in women’s sport.

The former Olympic swimmer says she has been called “every name under the sun” after speaking out against male-born athletes competing in female categories.

It comes after the 60-year-old shared her support for the decision to prevent trans cyclist Emily Bridges from competing against female riders because “we are physiologically different people”.

“Just activists ringing every single job I have, ringing every single charity, ringing my children’s schools, abusing my kids, calling me every name under the sun,” Davies told the Off Air podcast.

The former Olympic swimmer says she has been called “every name under the sun” after speaking out against male-born athletes competing in female categories

“[They say] I am a bigot, I’m a homophobe, obviously a transphobe. I’m even a racist which I find hilarious because I have got mixed-race kids.

“They use these terms not to actually mean it, they use it to bully. They use it to shut you up and to stop you trying to debate and present the science.”

Davies said the abuse she has received was misogynistic and claimed a lot of male athletes have not backed her in her fight against trans women competing in sport.

She added: “I think they keep their heads down because they don’t want it to affect their revenue.

“In 2017 to 2018, over a weekend I contacted 60 of my friends in the world of sport.

“Every single one of those is an Olympic medallist or a world champion and every single one of those is a household name. More than half of them were men.

“Only five of that 60 have ever put their head above the parapet.”

The swimmer added that decathlete Daley Thompson – who is one of the few to have spoken out over the issue – has not faced the same abuse.

Sharron Davies 

Davies said the abuse she has received was misogynistic and claimed a lot of male athletes have not backed her in her fight against trans women competing in sport

She said: “Daley gets a hundredth of the abuse I get, and he has exactly the same views and says exactly the same things.

“It feels like it is totally and utterly a men’s rights movement. Historically women, get hit over the head with this “be kind” slogan.

“Yet if you turn around to men and you said, “Well, let’s be kind to Lance Armstrong. He was only cheating a little bit – it’s not going to matter. He’s only got a 1 per cent advantage on us – let him carry on”, they would just laugh in your face.”