The Trans Athletes Who Changed the Olympics—in 1936

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A track star’s gender transition in the nineteen-thirties, and the response of Olympic officials, foreshadowed today’s culture-war battles over gender and sports.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and the New Yorker.
0:11.0	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.
0:14.0	In 1934, Zanya Kobek, a track star from Czechoslovakia,
0:20.0	set the women's world record for the 800 meter dash.
0:24.0	A year later, Quebec shocked the world by declaring that he was now living as a man,
0:30.0	an announcement that gained him international celebrity.
0:33.0	He eventually gave back the medals that he'd won in women's competitions.
0:38.0	I know, my name is a girl I've been crazy.
0:42.0	I guess we same here.
0:45.0	Well, he is going to work now in the French Casino, you see.
0:50.0	And then... see and he's going to
0:55.0	he'll start again maybe like the athlete you see.
1:00.0	He's going to train and complete against Man.
1:02.8	Yes, that's it.
1:05.8	Around the same time, a popular British track star who held titles in women's
1:10.5	competitions also transitioned. Both these stories contributed to panic
1:15.9	over trans athletes and remember this was all the way back in the 1930s and these
1:21.5	stories also led to sex testing policies that still define sports today.
1:25.7	That's the subject of a new book by Michael Waters called The Other Olympians, Fascism, Queerness,
1:31.8	and The Making of modern sports.
1:34.2	Michael Waters has written for the New Yorker and other magazines.
1:37.4	He talked about the other Olympians with our sports columnist Louisa Thomas.
	...

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