Latest news with #womenInSports
Reuters
2 hours ago
- General
- Reuters
Trans women find safe space in London soccer club after UK ruling
Goal Diggers FC was founded in 2015 with the aim of making soccer more accessible to all women and non-binary people. But the UK's landmark ruling on what it means to be a woman has left the club in turmoil. Rachel Graham has more.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Riley Gaines issues challenge to ex-ESPN host after he slammed 'MAGA stooge' over trans athlete fight
Conservative activist Riley Gaines has challenged former ESPN host Keith Olbermann to a race after he hit out at her for her support of Donald Trump. Gaines tied for fifth place with University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male, in 2022 while swimming for the University of Kentucky in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship. The 25-year-old has since been outspoken against transgender athletes competing in women's sport, haling the president for his 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sport' executive order earlier this year. This week, Olbermann, the ex-host of both MSNBC's 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' and ESPN's 'SportsCenter,' took aim at the former collegiate swimmer over her campaigning. Olbermann responded to a Fox News clip of Education Secretary Linda McMahon claiming that Gaines 'would have clearly won' her race if Gaines didn't have to compete against transgender athlete Thomas. '[Riley Gaines] finished 85th in the Olympic Trials,' Olbermann posted on X. 'She finished tied for 5th in the only race including a transgendered athlete. If there had been none she MIGHT have finished tied for 4th, or had 5th place to herself.' Gaines, a 12-time NCAA All-American, fired back at the sports commentator, noting she 'placed 85th at Olympic trials when I was 15/16.' 'I was one of the youngest there,' Gaines explained. 'And I placed 5th *in the nation* in a sport measured in .01s of a second without going a best. Would you say the 5th best college football player is objectively bad at their sport? 'No. You're just a misogynistic pig & an old, deranged man with a terminal case of TDS who can't hold down a job.' She went on to challenge Olbermann to back up his criticism by taking her on in a race for charity, Gaines told Fox Digital. She said that the event would be a 200-yard freestyle at a location of Olbermann's choice sometime before August 31 with proceeds going to a charity of the winner's choosing. Olbermann appeared to accept the challenge, branding the competition a 'brilliant idea.' 'A 66-year old man with an arthritic left knee and chronic stress fractures in the right foot... Somebody you could finally beat!' he taunted in response to the challenge. The heated online tiff comes after Gaines joined many in expressing outrage over a transgender athlete competing in girls' high school track and field in California. AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley, a biological male, won the women's long jump and triple jump at the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Masters Meet last week. Reese Hogan of Crean Lutheran High School, one of the opponents defeated by Hernandez, took the podium following the official ceremony. AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley is making waves in track and field in contentious fashion The moment took off online, and earned praise from Gaines. In March, Hernandez drew backlash online after winning a triple jump event by three feet. In response to the backlash, Trump blasted California governor Gavin Newsom , who he called 'Newscum,' and called a transgender athlete's sporting domination in the state 'not fair and totally demeaning to women and girls.' 'Please be advised that large scale federal funding will be held back, maybe permanently,' Trump threatened on his Truth Social site. Then, without citing a specific legal basis, Trump wrote that 'I am ordering local authorities, if necessary, to not allow the transitioned person to compete in the State Finals. This is a totally ridiculous situation!!!' Gaines has been vocal in her opposition to allowing trans athletes to compete in women's sport and has dedicated the past two years to campaigning on the issue. She was invited to Trump's address to Congress in March when the president turned his focus to keeping trans athletes out of women's sports. The subject had been a big driving force in his election last November and Trump elected to highlight the story of Payton McNabb, a former high school volleyball player who was left with brain damage after being spiked in the face by a trans opponent, during his speech. Trump had previously surrounded himself with female athletes and activists, including Gaines, at the White House a month earlier to sign an executive order barring trans participation in women's sports. The order uses Title IX, a law against sex discrimination in taxpayer-funded education programs, to ban transgender girls and women from participating in female school sports activities.
The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Melissa Reddy breaks silence on Sky Sports exit as she blasts ‘the abuse never ceases' and reveals new career path
MELISSA REDDY has broken her silence after leaving Sky Sports. In a lengthy statement, she wrote on Instagram: "ELEVENTH!!! season of Premier League coverage done and I've called time on three years at Sky. 1 "I'll still be doing bits and bobs for them but I'm genuinely soooo excited to share all the things I'll be working on soon, which will allow me to focus on my strengths and passions 🥰 "For those that have BEEN asking for the past five years (😅) YES - that will include new books 🤓 "After the first press conference I covered in England all those years back, a journalist turned to the press officer and said 'why are you letting them come over here and take our jobs. You just want a little lick 👅 don't you?!' "I would love to be able to say that things have changed in that regard, but alas… the abuse as a foreign woman of colour in this sphere never ceases. "I will always be stronger than the hate; I know who I am, I know the substance of my work. "You can't dim the light of someone who learned how to shine in the dark. "The messages I've received from managers, players, club staff, my Sky and wider industry colleagues - people who know me, my journey and sacrifices over the past decade - carry more weight than any of the nasty noise. Let's cook." THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Emma Raducanu reveals how she's taken inspiration from Iga Swiatek - as she aims to finally get one over her former junior rival
In the spring of 2020, Iga Swiatek was entering the history books and Emma Raducanu was hitting the textbooks. These two women, born just 18 months apart, will face each other at the French Open today and, in contemplating their fifth meeting, the British No2 recalled watching Swiatek win her first of five titles here five years ago. Raducanu was taking a break from tennis to concentrate on her studies, and admitted to a degree of frustration as she watched her junior contemporaries thrive on the tour. 'I did my A levels in 2021. In 2020, I didn't play tennis for six months,' said the 22-year-old. 'I was watching this unfold, watching my peers do really well. I felt it was so far away, like I was kind of being held back. 'But it fuelled a lot of fire and hunger inside of me and when I came back after an 18-month hiatus in 2021, I ended up having one of the best summers.' That summer culminated in the US Open title, of course, but it is easy to forget this is only Raducanu's third full season on tour. Almost every aspect of her game is a work in progress - take, for instance, the dramatic improvement on her forehand in recent weeks. 'She's obviously had a lot more experience, a lot more time playing tennis and competing than I have,' said Raducanu of Swiatek. 'I haven't had the same exposure or level of training because of school and everything. So I feel like now I'm trying to catch up and do double time and overtime work. But it's still a long way to go.' Raducanu sits at No41 in the world. She is pretty consistent at dispatching those outside the top 50 and can punch up, too, with three top-10 wins over the last 12 months. But against the truly elite players of this generation - Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff - she is yet to win a set in seven meetings. 'I want to try and bridge the gap,' said Raducanu. 'In the last few weeks, I've done a pretty good job of improving my game and I'm looking forward to going on court and knowing I have to give my best. I have to commit. Because there's no other way.' Swiatek has won here for the last three years but she has never been more vulnerable. Her one-month doping ban for contaminated melatonin last year threw her off and she is yet to recover. Her last title was here last year and she has fallen to No5 in the world, so things are not quite so hopeless as they might seem for Raducanu. In taking to Court Philippe Chatrier for the third match of the day, Raducanu will complete the set of main Grand Slam arenas, after Rod Laver Arena, Arthur Ashe Stadium and Centre Court. After criticising organisers for the lack of time allowed to lesser players to practice on the big stages, Raducanu was given half an hour to acclimatise to Chatrier yesterday. She will hope to have coach Mark Petchey in the stands, after he missed her first round win over Xinyu Wang due to commentating duties. His family was still represented though, with daughter Myah standing courtside and giving vociferous support throughout. 'I actually think having her there really helped – because I was like, 'it's a mini-Mark',' said Raducanu. 'She's going to hate me for saying that. I've got to know her well, so having her support there - and she was standing there for the whole three hours and didn't go. I really appreciated that. She's a great girl. Having her there definitely was like a little symbolic representation of Mark.'
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
A basketball player was sidelined for her headscarf. France may now ban them in all sports
PARIS — Salimata Sylla was about to lead her team onto the basketball court, as she had done many times before. On that Sunday morning, she and her teammates had completed a three-hour bus trip from the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers to a rival club in northern France. They had changed and warmed up, and Sylla, the team captain, was ready to go.
