A 29-year-old transgender woman beat a 13-year-old girl to take home the top prize in a skateboarding contest in New York City, reigniting the debate over whether new inclusivity pushes create an unfair advantage in women’s sports.
Ricci Tres, from Los Angeles, who was born a man but now identifies as a woman, won the women’s division of the Boardr Open street skateboarding competition and a $500 prize, with 13-year-old Shiloh Catori, from Florida, coming in second and taking a $250 prize.
Four of the six finalists were under the age of 17, with the youngest being 10-year-old Juri Iikura, who came in fifth. At 29, Tres was the oldest contestant.
Tres is 838 in the Boardr Global Rankings, compared to Catori’s 133 ranking.
Tres attempted to participate in the Women’s Street USA Skateboarding National Championships to aid in her bid to qualify for the Olympics but was rejected because she had too much testosterone, according to The Daily Mail.
The outlet said Tres took hormones to suppress her testosterone but still came in over the limit.
Tres served four years in the Navy and had three kids with her now ex-wife before becoming a woman, according to The Mail.
The pair still live together in Los Angeles and co-parent their children, according to the report.
“I am 28, I have three kids, I’m married, I did my time in the military, I own a company,” he said in an interview, according to the Mail. “I’ve decided that I like being pretty and cute.”
The transgender athlete’s victory sparked an outrage on social media among critics, who blasted Boardr Open for allowing a much older competitor assigned male at birth to face off against biological females — many of them more than half her age.
