Former Olympian backs bill to block biological men from women's Olympic sports: 'It's insanity'
Three-time Olympic cyclist Inga Thompson sounded off on policies allowing transgender women to compete in Olympic sports, warning the idea is both unfair and unsafe for female competitors.
"We're watching transgender women when they're serving volleyballs onto women and physically hurting them," Thompson told Todd Piro during "Fox & Friends First" on Thursday.
"We're seeing in cycling where people are getting checked and hit, and now we have boxing… I can't remember the exact numbers of the power difference of men and women with upper body strength, but I think it's upwards of 143% more power.
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"When you are an athlete in training, those levels don't really drop off," she continued. "You can take away all the testosterone you want, but you still have… over 100% power over the women, so yes, you will hurt the women and all the more need to have the protection of women. When somebody like boxing allows men to box women, I mean, it's insanity. I still kind of chuckle we're even having this conversation."
Thompson's comments come as House lawmakers are poised to hold a hearing on a bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing in women's Olympic sports.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., who introduced the legislation, previously told Fox News Digital, "Due to the illogical USA boxing transgender policy, I introduced legislation to prevent organizations who choose to live in delusion from being recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee."
Representative Greg Steube, a Republican from Florida, listens during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Protection of Women in Olympic and Amateur Sports Act would prohibit any governing body recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) from allowing biological men to participate in any female athletic event.
The bill, obtained by Fox News Digital, defines a female as "an individual who has, had, will have — or would have, but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident — the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization."
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"You have the United States Olympic Committee basically threatening the national governing bodies, that if you don't allow transgender women into women's sports… they would pull a lot of the funding," Thompson said, welcoming the proposed legislation as "very necessary."
The debate over the bill comes after USA Boxing announced its new policy, which states that both transgender men and women are allowed to compete in the biological divisions given the athletes fulfills certain requirements.
The transgender athlete is required to declare their gender, complete quarterly hormone testing for four years after surgery and have Testerone levels in compliance with their standards. The policy went into effect in January 2024.
Regardless, Thompson argued no requirements or testosterone restrictions can level the playing field.
"No amount of testosterone suppression mitigates these advantages of being born male. … There's no way to make this fair to women."
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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