With the announcement of Canada’s National MTB team for the 2002 MTB Worlds many people were not surprised when B.C.’s Michelle Dumaresq made the team. She was granted the automatic spot after winning the 2002 women’s Canada Cup Downhill. Normally this wouldn’t raise an eyebrow but Michelle Dumaresq was formerly a male and is now licensed to race in the women’s category as a post-op transsexual woman.
Dumaresq doesn’t want to be a poster girl for the transgendered community. “I just want to race my bike!” After fifteen years of riding mountain bikes recreationally, Dumaresq competed in a couple races last year with a one-day license. Enjoying the experience she applied for a license for the 2002 season. She was finally issued one through the UCI after producing a female birth certificate.
She started winning races and her results angered her competitors. A petition was created that urges the UCI to ban Dumaresq’s participation from women’s mountain bike racing. A suggestion was made to create a category for transgendered athletes. After seven plus years of hormone therapy Dumaresq has reportedly lost muscle mass, estrogen therapy has diminished her supply of testosterone and her height has fluctuated, indicating some internal changes as well. She feels that she doesn’t have an advantage over the other racers. Most however, will argue that a male has a distinct advantage over a female. Differences in lung size, heart size, bone strength, aggression-assertiveness, testosterone levels, and the denseness of oxygen carrying blood come into play.
The UCI has assigned an outside committee to make a decision. No significant developments have evolved over the last two months and the UCI has delayed naming the committee to the press. The CCA (Canadian Cycling Association) does not to wish to comment on this issue at this time. If no decision is made, Dumaresq will compete at the MTB 2002 Worlds in late August as scheduled, whether it’s fair or not if, (and when) a decision is made it will affect most, if not all, sporting communities around the world.