Olympic medalist Sharron Davies says people with different views on gender should not be branded 'transphobic'

TV presenter and former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies has become the latest sports personality to question the fairness of transgender women competing against biological women. 

In an appearance on Sky News, Davies said that growing up male gave transgender women an unfair advantage and that it was not 'transphobic' to believe that athletes should compete on the basis of biology. 

'Unfortunately, if you're a transgender woman, you would have spent a fair bit of your life and puberty as a man or as a boy and you would have the male benefits that that would give you and that makes it an unfair playing field for other women, so I think this is just about sport,' Davies said.

'I'm certainly not a transphobe,' she added. 

She explained further: 'If a young boy goes through puberty, he has increased lung capacity, he has a higher red blood cell count, he has a different skeletal system, a smaller pelvis — which helps certainly on a bike.'

Davies, who won silver at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, said there were 'many' people in sports who shared the same views but were too afraid to say anything, particularly those still competing, because they were concerned about sponsorship deals. 

'They're worried that their governing bodies will frown on it, they're worried that their sponsors will think it's not PC,' she told Sky.

She added: 'That's what I think is wrong with this debate.  Why should we label someone that has a different view from you as transphobic?'

She first spoke about her views on the issue on Twitter, where she said she believed there was a 'fundamental difference' between the binary sex a person is born with and their gender. 

'To protect women's sport those with a male sex advantage should not be able to compete in women's sport,' she said. 

She also said she was 'so surprised by the rudeness and name calling' she had received for sharing her views.

Transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon, who won the UCI Masters Track World Championship title last October, responded to Davies' comments by accusing her of transphobia. 

McKinnon has previously argued that taking oestrogen and testosterone-blockers removes much of the competitive advantage of transgender women over biological females.

McKinnon was among the critics of Martina Navratilova after the tennis champion said last month that allowing transgender women to compete as female was equivalent to 'cheating'. 

'To put the argument at its most basic: a man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organisation is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires,' said Navratilova.

'It's insane and it's cheating. I am happy to address a transgender woman in whatever form she prefers, but I would not be happy to compete against her. It would not be fair.'