An elite female athlete’s perspective on gender in sport

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For context, allow me to introduce myself: I’m a wife and mother, an NCAA five-time All-American, a four-time Big 12 Champion, and a former USA Track & Field high jumper. I was inducted into the Iowa State University Athletics Hall of Fame as “the greatest high jumper in the 50-year history of Iowa State University Women’s Track and Field.” At the height of my career, I was nearly undefeated across Division I meets. A personal best leap of 6 feet, 3½ inches qualified me for the 2004 Olympic Trials, where I had the honor of competing among the most elite women jumpers of our country, vying to represent Team USA in Athens, Greece.

That same year, the best male jumper in high school cleared 7 feet, 5¼ inches.

Today, hundreds of high school boys across the country jump higher than I ever did. In Minnesota alone, at the 2024 High School Track and Field State Meet, most male high jumpers surpassed the 6-foot mark, with 15 boys jumping higher than my all-time career best.

Is this shocking or disappointing to me? No. Do you know what is shocking and disappointing? The state of Minnesota is in denial of the basic truth that biological sex is a physical reality that has real-world implications — and now the integrity of female sports is under threat.

Males and females are different. The fact that male athletes outperform female athletes in sport is backed by science, physiology and decades of sports performance data. Males, on average, have greater muscle mass, stronger bones, larger hearts and higher levels of testosterone, all of which contribute to superior speed, strength and endurance. And these advantages don’t simply vanish when a male athlete identifies as female.

Recently, my 7-year-old daughter heard me talking with a friend as I juxtaposed the totality of my career as an elite national athlete with that of a single meet performance of local high school boys. She piped in saying, “That’s OK, Mom, boys being able to jump higher than you doesn’t hurt you or wreck your records or take your medals, because you jump with girls.”

She’s right. High-school boys outperforming female athletes (at any level) takes nothing from either’s success — precisely because they are not in direct competition. If this changes, it will be to the detriment of girls. On the team or on the podium, every spot taken by a male athlete is a spot stolen from a young woman.

My time as an elite athlete is past and my medals materially inconsequential, so why am I so passionate about this? Because the accolades — and the hard work, perseverance and sacrifice they represent — led to scholarships and tangible opportunities that changed my life for the better. That trajectory could have been profoundly affected if even one boy had been allowed to compete in the girl’s division when I was a high-school student-athlete.

As a junior, I was a three-time Minnesota state champion, which opened doors to full-ride scholarship offers at universities across the country. It was perhaps solely based on this notable accolade that I was “seen” and recruited, as I didn’t compete during my senior year due to an ACL knee injury. Without this crowning title, which generated national visibility for me, it is difficult to believe many schools would’ve given me serious consideration.

And against male jumpers, I would have fallen short.

Contrary to the assertion that this injustice would not or “isn’t happening,” just a couple of weeks ago, an 11th-grade, trans-identifying, male high school athlete won the Maine state title in girls’ pole-vault, defeating the closest competitor by more than 6 inches and directly affecting the team outcome in which the school captured overall victory. The same athlete’s jump would have tied for 10th out of 13 competitors in the boys’ division. In Connecticut, two biological males won 15 state championships in track and field in the girls’ division — titles that rightfully belonged to female athletes.

The overwhelming majority of Minnesotans support safeguarding Title IX for the same reasons it was established. For 50 years, girls and women have proven their strength and ability to compete, excel and reach full potential as student-athletes in the designated space carved out for them. The Preserving Girls’ Sports Act, authored by state Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, and state Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester — two women who lived through Title IX expansion and experienced firsthand how girls’ athletics can shape futures — defends the rights of every generation of girls to have a fair playing field. I support this act, safeguarding opportunities for female student-athletes, and urge you to stand with me on behalf of current and future generations.

We must continue to foster and protect equitable athletic opportunities for all women. If we don’t, the structure will implode, becoming “female sport” in name only, with biological males dominating the record books and capturing the experiences and opportunities intended for another.