Former NCAA Runner Says ‘Stolen’ Championship Should Be Returned After Loss to Trans-Identifying Man in 2019

Former collegiate runner Minna Svärd placed second in the finals of the NCAA Division II Women’s 400-meter hurdles in 2019 as a sophomore at East Texas A&M — losing first place to a transgender-identifying man who previously ranked 390th among NCAA Division II men.

This week, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Svärd called for the “stolen” championship to be returned to her, after trans-identifying CeCé Telfer snagged the top spot in that event.

“CeCé Telfer destroyed the women’s field and crossed the finish line almost two seconds before me, becoming the first known transgender-identified athlete to win an NCAA title,” the Swedish athlete wrote.  

“That made me the first collegiate woman to be told her victory was worth less than a man’s feelings. I cried a lot that day—not because I lost, but because of how I lost. I also knew I wasn’t the only victim. Every time a male athlete enters a female competition, a woman gets cut from the roster to make room.” 

Svärd pointed out that “men have enormous athletic advantages over women” and “Olympic gold-medal-winning times for men’s 400-meter hurdlers are about five seconds faster than for women” which is “about 10 percent—an eternity in this kind of sport.”

Svard noted that Telfer authored a book, and that the New York Times magazine wrote about him in a long piece called “For My People: A Transgender Woman Pursues an Olympic Dream.” But in 2021, Svard wrote, Tefler did not pass a testosterone test, which put an end to his dream of participating in the Olympics.

She continued:

 “I don’t expect I’ll ever be profiled in a fawning magazine feature. But I did accomplish one thing that will always fill me with pride: In 2019 I was the fastest female 400-meter hurdler at any NCAA Division II school. It’s been five years since that honor was stolen from me. I want it back.

She said while President Donald Trump’s executive order barring males from female sports teams is “welcome,” it “isn’t enough.”

“The official results of past competitions should be corrected to align with reality. Male competitors should be removed and the rank of affected women increased accordingly,” she wrote.

During an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, she said it is time for female athletes to speak up and explain “how we feel and what we’ve actually been going through.”

“Nothing about it is fair. It’s not okay that NCAA is allowing this to even go on. They absolutely need to be held accountable for what they are allowing female athletes to go through. It’s not fair,” she said.

CeCé Telfer has been fighting to continue competing in women’s track and field and said he hopes to make it to the Olympics despite World Athletics barring males from competing in women’s world rankings competitions.

Last month, Telfer complained that “anti-trans rhetoric has become louder” since Donald Trump was elected.

“I need some explanation as to why you want to completely eradicate us from society when we’ve done nothing wrong,” Telfer told CNN Sports.

Svärd reacted to his comments while speaking with Fox, arguing that “no one” is trying to “eradicate” transgender people, and that she and other women only want “fairness” in athletics.

President Trump’s executive order on “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” was created to protect female student athletes from having “to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males.” The order also mandates each federal department to “review grants to education programs and, where appropriate, rescind funding to programs that fail to comply with the policy established in this order,” which protects women “as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)  notably banned males from competing in women’s sports less than 24 hours after Trump’s order rewriting Title IX. The NCAA policy states that athletes “assigned male at birth” are not allowed to compete on women’s teams, but they “may practice on the team consistent with their gender identity and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes who are otherwise eligible for practice.”

Trump’s Department of Education has called on the NCAA and the Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to revoke the titles and championships awarded to transgender athletes competing in girls’ and women’s sports during the Biden administration.

The department issued the call after first sending a letter to the NCAA and NFHS in February, prompting the organizations to “restore to female athletes the records, titles, awards, and recognitions misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.”

In addition, the letter told the organizations that to comply with current administration policy, the high school and college governing bodies should remove any accolades from those athletes that “unfairly competed against girls and women in athletics.”

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.