Canadian footballer Quinn became the first openly transgender athlete to win an Olympic medal on Friday in another trailblazing moment at the Tokyo Games for the marginalised community.
Quinn — who goes by a single name and uses the pronouns ‘they’ and ‘their’ — begun the gold-medal match against Sweden, which was won by Canada following a dramatic penalty shootout.
The 25-year-old has a long history with the Canadian team, debuting in 2014 and winning bronze at the 2016 Rio Games, but only came out as transgender last year.
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‘I wanted to be my authentic self in all spheres of my life and one of those is being in a public space,’ Quinn said at the time.
‘So that was one of the reasons behind it, because I was tired of being misgendered and everything like that.’
The player’s pioneering status at the Tokyo Games has until now largely been overshadowed by the presence of transgender New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard.
Hubbard, whom the International Olympic Committee acknowledges became the first openly trans woman to compete at the Olympics on Monday — set off a firestorm of debate over her appearance.
The 43-year-old, who was twice the age of some of her rivals and had not competed internationally since before the coronavirus pandemic, later admitted she was ‘overwhelmed’ to be in the spotlight.
There are no questions about Quinn’s sporting prowess — the player is entering the prime years for a defensive midfielder and lines up at club level alongside top women’s stars such as US star Megan Rapinoe.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK