Welcome to Wrexham star blows open trans girls in sport debate with doc

A star of Welcome to Wrexham has blown open the debate about trans women in sport with a new documentary.

Maxine Hughes believes it is likely the “only film that’s been done in the UK that gives a platform to both sides of the debate”.

The mum-of-two interviewed several people on the doc including former Olympians, trans athletes and the International Olympics Committee (IOC) who said their priority was trans women – not cis-gender women.

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It is called Byd Eithafol: Chwarae Teg (Extreme World: Fair Game) and it is now available on the BBC iPlayer.

And speaking during the S4C documentary, she said: “I’ve appreciated the experience of finding out more about what life is like for trans people.

“We’re dehumanising people and starting to talk about the issue like it doesn’t affect people. Behind these headlines, that’s what they are, those are people being affected. It’s such a complex issue.”

Later in the doc, which comes ahead of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, she added: “It’s up to us to have a respectful conversation, remembering at the end of the day we’re talking about people.”

The documentary hear from people who offered their thoughts on the extreme debate.

Mara Yamauchi is a two-time British Olympian runner who said trans women athletes competing in women’s categories was comparable to doping.

Mara – an ultra marathon runner – was talking about how she was ranked second in the world in women’s road running in 2009 after setting her personal best time.

However, she said 1,300 men in that year alone were faster than her. And asked why this was, she added: “Because of their sex.

“There’s loads of peer reviewed evidence out there proving that not only that males outperform females, but that testosterone suppression does not fully remove male advantage. When I was competing I often had to compete against athletes who were doping.”

Maxine responded by asking whether she equated doping with transgender women competing in a female sporting category.

Refusing to back track, Mara said: “I think you can call it gender doping because males are bringing the beneficial effects of testosterone and being male into the female category where it doesn’t belong. The female category is for females, not for males.

“The truth matters and the truth matters particularly in language. If somebody is male I will use he or him about that person. The truth is males cannot become female in any way shape or form.”

And asked if she was transphobic, Mara, who holds the third fastest time by a British woman over marathon distance, said: “I think the word transphobic has totally lost all meaning because it’s hurled at people like me basically to silence us.”

Both sides of debate were given a voice ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics where individual sporting bodies decide what category trans women can compete in – as opposed to a ‘one size fits all’ rule by the IOC.

Valentina Petrillo meanwhile is an Italian runner who hopes to become the first trans woman to compete in a women’s event at the Paralympics.

She was born a man but transitioned in 2019 and Maxine asked her whether she understood why some female athletes have a problem with competing against trans women.

Valentine said: “Clearly, it feels a bit strange. You can see I’m a man. So me competing in a female category is still seen as something unacceptable.

“[But] testosterone doesn’t mean anything to me. I was born this tall but that’s not because of testosterone. Otherwise we’d say that a short man does not have enough testosterone.”

However, Dr Shane Heffernan, an expert in elite athlete physiology at Swansea University, offered some scientific evidence to the controversial topic.

Him and his team studied 175 athletes throughout the world and Maxine asked him whether a trans woman still holds physical advantages over women even after transitioning and taking hormone blockers and lowering testosterone levels.

He said the advantages were “diminished to some degree” but “rarely eradicated”.

Shane, who said men have bigger lungs, hearts and lean mass, added: “I could take gender conforming hormones now and within two or three weeks my testosterone levels are down but even if I did that for over a year there is still retained advantage.

“There is evidence that there are biological advantages even post transition. There is plenty of it. It exists.”

He added: “The IOC says things like there’s a presumption of no advantage. At the moment, there is no evidence to support that whatsoever because there is loads of evidence that there is advantage, or potential advantage.”