CeCé Telfer is a Jamaican-born athlete who, in 2019, became the first openly

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

person to win an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

title. While a student athlete at

Franklin Pierce University Franklin Pierce University is a private university in Rindge, New Hampshire. It was founded as Franklin Pierce College in 1962, combining a liberal arts foundation with coursework for professional development, professional preparation. The scho ...

, Telfer first competed without success in the men's division from 2016 to 2017 but after

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

and beginning transition, Telfer was allowed to compete in the women's division. Telfer eventually took first place in the 400-meter hurdles event in June 2019.

Career

Telfer is a

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...

but competed on the Franklin Pierce University men's track and field team in 2016 and 2017. In the

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ar ...

at the 36-inch men's division height, she ranked 200th in 2016 and 390th in 2017 among

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

athletes. Under NCAA rules, transgender athletes can compete in women's events after completing one calendar year of

testosterone Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondar ...

suppression treatment. Telfer qualified for the

NCAA Women's Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Division II Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships are the annual college athletics, collegiate track and field competitions for women athletes representing NCAA Division II, Division II institutions organised by the National Colle ...

in 2019, ranking third in 60-meter hurdles and seventh in the 200-meter dash nationally in the women's division. She finished sixth in the 60-meter hurdles finals, and first in the 400-meter hurdles finals at the 30-inch women's division height. Telfer gained wide public recognition after

Donald Trump Jr. Donald John Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977) is an American political activist, businessman, author, and former television presenter. He is the eldest child of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his firs ...

quoted an article title referring to Telfer as a "biological male," calling her recent competition wins a "grave injustice" against "young women". Following her victory in the 400-meter hurdles, Telfer appeared on

Outside the Lines ''Outside the Lines'', or also referred to as ''OTL'', is an American television program on ESPN that looks "outside the lines" and examines critical issues in mostly American sports on and off the field of play. The primary host of the show is ...

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

on June 13, 2019. During her interview, she praised her coaches for their support, detailing how they took steps to protect her physical and mental well-being during the competition, hiring additional

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...

s and advising her to stay off of

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

for 48 hours following her win to help limit her exposure to

transphobic Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...

comments and postings. In another interview with

Outsports ''Outsports'' is a sports news website concerned with LGBT issues and personalities in amateur and professional sports. The company was founded in 1999 by Cyd Zeigler, Jr. and Jim Buzinski. ''The Outsports Revolution'' (Alyson Publications), by ...

, Telfer denied that

gave her an advantage over cisgender athletes, saying that she'd been on hormone therapy for quite some time and that her testosterone levels were lower than the average woman's as a result. Additionally, Telfer stated that her height, which is 6' 2", put her at a disadvantage as her size gives her

wind resistance In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...

and because in the women's 100-meter hurdles, one of her chosen events, the hurdles are placed much closer together than the men's hurdles were, over half a meter closer together. Telfer sought to compete in the 2020 Olympic Trials in the 400-meter hurdles. While failing to meet the 56.50 qualifying standard, USATF increased the size of the field and with a 2021 season best of 57.5, Telfer was accepted into the field. She was later removed from the event after

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

determined that she was not able to prove her eligibility for the event under guidelines set for transgender athletes.

Personal life

Telfer was born in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and

assigned male at birth Sex assignment (sometimes known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex at or before birth. A relative, midwife, nurse or physician inspects the external genitalia when the baby is delivered and, in more than 99.95% of birt ...

. She was raised by a single mother, one of three children. The family moved to Canada when she was 12, before settling in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

when she was in her junior year of

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. Her high school coach, Andrew Gamble, recruited Telfer for track and field.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Telfer, Cece Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American female hurdlers American transgender sportspeople American transgender women LGBT track and field athletes Transgender sportswomen Jamaican LGBT sportspeople Jamaican transgender people 21st-century American LGBT people 21st-century Jamaican LGBT people 21st-century Jamaican people

Career

Personal life

See also

References