History of Intersex Athletes

There is a long-standing tradition of questioning the biological sex of elite female athletes. More often that not, these inquiries are unfounded, but all they invariably begin with the same line of thought, “That lady looks like a dude”.

Successful female athletes who possess traditionally feminine attributes such as voluptuous breasts and Barbie like measurements are seldom, if ever, subjects of scrutiny about sex and gender. Female athletes who don’t resemble Anna Kournikova however, often are subjected to such scrutiny.

Two such examples are Mildred “Babe” Zaharias and Renée Richards. Zaharias competed in myriad events from javelin, hurdles and high jump in the 1932 Olympics to wining every available woman’s golf title by 1950. Successful as she was, there were many who believed that because of her masculine manner of dress, behavior, and competition that she was indeed a man. These rumors only died after she married.

Born Richard Raskind, Renée Richards succeeded at a young age in men’s competitive tennis, became an eye surgeon and served in the United States Navy. Following successful sex reassignment surgery in 1975, Renée returned to the court, this time a woman. Initially she was denied entry in the 1976 US Open, but an appeal to the New York Supreme Court proved fruitful as the ruling on her admission was overruled. She went on to compete successfully in the US Open, Reaching the Doubles Finals twice until she retired in 1981.

--Spencer