Transgender, nonbinary 1,500 runner shines on and off track (2024)

AP Spotlight

  • PAT GRAHAM and EDDIE PELLSAssociated Press
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  • Scripps News

More than a dozen athletes and former athletes sued the NCAA for its policy allowing transgender athletes to participate in certain sports. (Scripps News)

EUGENE, Ore. — While Nikki Hiltz took a victory lap to celebrate a long-awaited trip to the Olympics, some fans reached out and handed bracelets to their favorite 1,500-meter runner — a runner who is doing this, in part, for them.

These days, Hiltz, who's transgender and nonbinary, is shining in two lanes — on the track as one of the world's top middle distances runners with a trip to Paris upcoming, and away from it as a role model for the queer community. Hiltz, who's always competed in the female category, uses the pronouns “they” and “them," and highly suggests people get used to that because they aren't going anywhere.

“I’m just looking forward to keep showing up as myself and keep taking up space,” the 29-year-old Hiltz said Sunday at the U.S. track trials after earning their first trip to the Olympics. “I use they/them pronouns and people stumble all the time. But it’s like, ‘You can’t really ignore me anymore, because I’m a two-time, back-to-back champion. I’m here, get-it-right’ kind of vibe.”

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Hiltz's race plan last Sunday went exactly according to how they drew it up. They got out to a fast start, stayed close to the lead pack and took off at the end. Hiltz ran a personal best and meet-record time of 3 minutes, 55.33 seconds to hold off Emily Mackay and Elle St. Pierre by less than a second.

Flashback to the 2021 Olympic trials: It didn't go as planned and they finished last in a final won by St. Pierre.

“I’ve just done so much work since then,” Hiltz said. “So much mental work and obviously physical work, too. It’s just a journey.”

Three months before the trials in '21, life began to change for Hiltz. In a post on social media, they announced — “I’m Nikki and I’m transgender.”

The American record holder in the women's mile remembers March 31, 2021, as a day when friends, family, fans and even track rivals could see Hiltz for who they really were.

As Hiltz gets ready to run in Paris next month, they know they are not just running for themselves. They are now equal parts athlete and LGBTQ+ advocate in a world where transgender participation in sports has become one of society’s most divisive lightning rods.

“I definitely pour a lot of myself and a lot of my time and energy into the queer community and being an advocate,” Hiltz said last summer in an interview before world championships in Budapest, Hungary. “But I do that because I get so much in return. I feel like every time I meet another nonbinary person in the queer community, they provide me with more representation. They always say that I’m doing that for them, but I think representation is a two-way street and I definitely feel empowered.”

Hiltz competing in the female category doesn't raise the same issues as faced by transgender women.

Two years ago, swimmer Lia Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship. It triggered new policies across sports.

World Aquatics effectively banned transgender women from competing in women’s events and World Athletics, the governing body for track and field, has grappled with versions of this issue for a while.

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Last year, it implemented stricter rules for intersex athletes with differences in sex development. Caster Semenya, the two-time Olympic 800-meter champion who has differences in sex development, is now barred from competing. She's said she won’t undergo the medical or surgical procedures she would need to in order to compete under the new rules, which ban her from all events unless she undergoes hormone-suppressing treatment for six months before competing.

“The overarching principle for me,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said last year, “is we will always do what we think is in the best interest of our sport."

For Hiltz, the point always boils down to this — inclusivity.

“As someone who’s competed in women’s sports my whole life, I think we do need protecting, but I don’t think it’s from trans women," Hiltz said last summer. "I think it’s from abusive coaches. Or there are so many more issues, like equal representation, equal pay.

“Those are the issues I would love to address instead of trans women, because that’s not something we’ve ever had to have protecting from.”

Each year Hiltz organizes a 5K race to support LGBTQ+ organizations. The mantra is a "shared determination to show we belong anywhere we decide to be.”

“I want to continue to work to make space for everyone,” Hiltz said.

On the track, Hiltz had a sizzling summer a year ago, running 4:16.35 to break a longstanding American mile mark set by Mary Slaney in 1985.

This season, they've only gotten faster and are moving on to a grander stage — the Olympics in Paris.

They earned their spot on the track at the University of Oregon, where Hiltz's college career began (they later went to Arkansas ). Hiltz recalled a moment during their freshman year in Eugene where they snuck into Hayward Field with some friends and sat down on the track to do some dreaming.

“I just remember thinking like, ‘I’m going to have a moment here one day,’” recalled Hiltz, who moved to the higher elevation of Flagstaff, Arizona. “Something inside of me was like, ‘I want to win a race here and I want it to be a big one.’”

They did just that, too.

“I’m so privileged," Hiltz said last Sunday. “I have an incredible support system. My family has always been accepting of me, when I came out about my sexuality, and then when I came out with my gender identity. I just know so many queer people don’t have that love and support."

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Transgender, nonbinary 1,500 runner shines on and off track (2024)

FAQs

Transgender, nonbinary 1,500 runner shines on and off track? ›

Nikki Hiltz celebrates after winning the women's 1500-meter final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials on Sunday in Eugene, Ore. Hiltz's race plan last Sunday went exactly according to how they drew it up. They got out to a fast start, stayed close to the lead pack and took off at the end.

Who is the transgender nonbinary runner in the Olympics? ›

What to know about Nikki Hiltz, the trans and nonbinary runner who's competing at the Paris Olympics. The middle-distance runner came in third place during their heat at the women's 1500m semifinals on Aug. 8, securing a spot at the final event this weekend.

Who is the nonbinary Olympic runner? ›

Nikki Hiltz, who is the first openly transgender and nonbinary athlete to make an individual Olympic final, finished seventh on Saturday in the 1,500-meter race. Why it matters: That's still the best-ever individual Olympic result for an athlete who identifies as transgender or nonbinary.

Who is the transgender sprinter in the Olympics? ›

Valentina Petrillo is set to become the first openly transgender athlete to participate in the Paralympic Games after the visually impaired sprinter was selected to represent Italy in the women's 200m and 400m in Paris.

What is a non binary runner? ›

Entrance Policy for Non-Binary Athletes

Some people feel that their gender identity cannot be simply defined by the expected binary terms of 'man' or 'woman'. Instead, they experience their gender in another way. Typically, we refer to this group of people as being 'non-binary'.

Who is the transgender runner in the 2024 Olympics? ›

What it means for Nikki Hiltz to compete at the Paris Olympics as a trans and nonbinary runner. Watch the 2024 Paris Olympics on NBC and streaming on Peacock, July 26 - Aug 11.

Who is the Olympic transgender lifter? ›

Laurel Hubbard (born 9 February 1978) is a New Zealand weightlifter. Selected to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics, she was the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympic Games.

Which runner is intersex? ›

In 2009, after placing sixth in the race that kickstarted Semenya's career, her competitor, the Italian runner Elisa Cusma, said: “For me, she's not a woman.” Then-IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss clumsily said, in July 2010: “She is a woman but maybe not 100%.” After years of deflecting questions about her sex and ...

Who is the man identifying as a woman in the Olympics? ›

Athletes Nikki Hiltz, a runner, and Hergie Bacyadan, a boxer, both identify as transgender (Hiltz also identifies as nonbinary), but both have always and continue to compete in the women's division, which is the sex they were assigned at birth.

Who is the androgynous female athlete? ›

Caster Semenya, as she is usually known in the press, first gained worldwide attention in 2009 when she competed in the 800 meters at the world championships in Berlin. She was 18 years old. Even before her first race in Berlin, though, others in the track and field world began questioning her gender.

Who won the Olympic medal for transgender people? ›

History of transgender athletes in competition
  • Renée Richards. Main article: Renée Richards. ...
  • Olympics. In 2021, non-binary Canadian football player Quinn was one of the first transgender athletes in the Olympics and the first to medal and win a gold medal. ...
  • Others.

Who is transgender in Olympic Marathon trials? ›

Nikki Hiltz, transgender runner, qualifies for U.S. Olympic team after winning 1,500-meter final. American transgender middle-distance runner Nikki Hiltz qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games on Sunday with a record-breaking performance in the women's 1,500-meter final.

Who is the transgender Olympic skier? ›

(AP) — One of freestyle skier Jay Riccomini's priceless life moments came this year in Switzerland, when he was recognized on the podium for a third-place finish in a major global competition. It was a breakthrough performance — and the announcer used his correct pronouns.

Who is the non-binary US Olympic athlete? ›

SAINT-DENIS, France — Nikki Hiltz has a superpower, they said: being queer. Hiltz – who identifies as transgender/non-binary and uses "they/them" pronouns – will be the first trans/non-binary person to participate in a track and field final at the Olympics on Saturday during the women's 1,500-meter run.

What do you call a non-binary actor? ›

Actors who identify with a gender that is outside of the gender binary (non-binary or genderqueer). Non-binary gender identities include agender and bigender.

What is the non-binary term for bride? ›

Marrier. If you're looking for a non-binary term for bride, marrier is the way to go. Like celebrant, this is a word you can use to describe a person engaged to be married.

Are there any gender neutral Olympic sports? ›

There is still a slight edge toward men among the 329 medal events at the Paris Olympics. The IOC has said there are 157 men's events, 152 women's events and 20 mixed-gender events. Of the 32 sports, 28 are “ fully gender equal,” the IOC said, including the new event of breaking to music.

How many Olympic athletes are LGBTQ? ›

The Paris Olympics broke a record by having 193 openly LGBTQ+ athletes competing, according to Outsports, a website compiling a database of openly queer Olympians. The count surpassed the 186 athletes at the COVID-19-delayed Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.

How many Olympic athletes are in Paris in 2024? ›

PARIS – The Olympic Games Paris 2024 concluded Sunday following 17 days of competition between 10,500 athletes representing more than 200 National Olympic Committees and the International Olympic Committee Refugee Olympic Team.

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