from L.A. Times Dec. 30, 1935
The following article appeared in the June 1, 2024 issue of The New Yorker.
A Forgotten Athlete, a Nazi Official, and the Origins of Sex Testing at the Olympics
A Chapter in this book is quoted in the June 1, 2024 issue of The New Yorker.
It covers the experience of the Czech athlete Zdenek Koubek and his odyssey in the world
of transgender sport in the 1930's. He competed initially in the Women's Games 1934
in London, setting a world record of 2:12 for the 800 meters. The IOC feared these games for women
might be too much competition for the Olympic Games and did everything in their power to stop them.
He had female sex characteristics but
considered himself a male and eventually and openly underwent one of the first transition surgeries or
phalloplasty (ouch). The public reaction was minimal at first until the Nazis began getting into the act with
the 1936 Olympics. The article fails to mention the Nazis substituting a male high jumper into the women's
competition after removing their own national record women's high jumper Gretel Bergmann, because of her
being Jewish. The Koubek story gained lots of press in the US and I've included some of those pieces
below A very interesting read. Here is the link. https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/a-forgotten-athlete-a-nazi-official-and-the-origins-of-sex-testing-at-the-olympics
Gretel Bergmann's story can be seen in an earlier post from this blog at the follwing link: https://onceuponatimeinthevest.blogspot.com/2017/07/v-7-n-50-margaret-gretel-bergmann.html
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