Minna Svard is a former NCAA Division two athlete. She placed second in the finals of the 400 meter hurdles in the NCAA’s championship meet in 2019, losing to a biological male.
Svard was at the top of her game for the championship, running a personal best time of 59.21. History records her as the runner-up, almost two seconds behind Craig Telfer’s time of 57.53.
Craig Telfer (shown at right in an NCAA graphic), who now goes by Cece’, according to Fox News, ranked 390th among the men's competitors in 2017. Competing against women instead of men was a huge benefit for his career as he became a national champion.
Fox reports men average five seconds faster than women, and the women's hurdles are nine inches shorter than the men's.
From her home country of Sweden, Svard joined Fox to share her story.
"Nothing about it is fair. It's not OK 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."
Telfer presented his story on a different network, CNN.
"I feel like a lot of the anti-trans rhetoric has become louder and more in my face. I need some explanation as to why you want to completely eradicate us from society when we've done nothing wrong."
Equity, not eradication
Svard says it’s about equity – oddly overlooked by the Left in the women’s sports discussion – not eradication.
"I would like to say that no one is trying to eradicate them. The only thing we want is fairness for us women. We are the ones that are having to go through being treated unfairly within our sports. I don't understand why as women have to suppress our feelings to make other people feel better. That’s not OK,” she said.
Svard said she never expected she would come to the U.S. and face this kind of injustice. It’s motivated her to speak out.
“We've been quiet for long enough with the NCAA keeping us silent and bullying us to stay silent and being OK with the situation that they have created. So now it's time for us to speak up and actually tell people about how we feel and what we've been going through."
