The 29-year-old transgender skateboarder who beat teenage girls at a New York City women’s competition this past weekend is actually a former Navy man who was rejected from the Olympics for his high testosterone levels.
Over the weekend, Ricci Tres, who also goes by the name Ricci And Tres, beat 13-year-old skateboarder Shiloh Catori at The Boardr skating contest in New York City. Though the competition was open to all ages, the heats and finals were segregated by gender. While Shiloh appeared to support Ricci competing, female skateboarder Taylor Silverman expressed outrage on social media:
According to the Daily Mail, Ricci was previously rejected from “Women’s Street USA Skateboarding National Championships in a bid to qualify for the Olympics” for having high testosterone levels. Ricci also fathered three children in his previous marriage.
“I am 28, I have three kids, I’m married, I did my time in the military, I own a company. I’ve decided that I like being pretty and cute,” Ricci previously said. “So everything that goes with that is female. I love female bodies. I think it’s a work of art.”
“I know I will never be a woman, because women are miraculous, they have babies and create life and do all that awesome stuff. I’ll never have that ability but I feel like I am a woman,” Ricci added. “I would have wished to be born one so I’ll try to fill that image as much as I can for myself and that pretty much involves being as cute as can be.”
In another interview, Ricci USA Skateboarding’s Robert Brink that transgender athletes should not have to take hormones to qualify.
“You can’t ask an elite professional athlete to compromise their health,” said Ricci. “Besides the fact that I’ve explained transitioning as a sense of enlightenment has nothing to do with your testosterone level. It’s a matter of decision and feelings. And you’ve finally decided to be you.”
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