Oregon high school athlete Alexa Anderson has revealed she was directed away from the high jump podium by officials after she protested the inclusion of a trans athlete in the competition.
Anderson and fellow competitor Reese Eckard were captured on video refusing to take their positions on the podium during the medal ceremony, in an apparent protest against a fifth-place finisher who is reportedly transgender.
Rather than standing in their designated spots, footage obtained by Fox News showed the girls turning their backs to the crowd before being ushered away from the ceremony by an official.
Anderson, who placed third in the competition, has now shared details about the incident.
“We stepped off the podium in protest and, as you can see, the official kind of told us ‘hey, go over there, if you’re not going to participate, get out of the photos,'” she told Fox News.
“They asked us to move away from the medal stand, so when they took the photos, we weren’t even in it at all.”
The protest took place at the event in Eugene, where Anderson had secured third place while Eckard finished fourth.
Anderson explained her motivation: “It’s unfair because biological males and biological females compete at such different levels that letting a biological male into our competition is taking up space and opportunities from all these hardworking women.”
She added, “The girl in ninth who should have came in eighth and had that podium spot taken away from her, as well as many others.”
Anderson noted this was her first experience competing against a transgender individual and her first public stance on the issue, though she has “privately supported all the other girls who have done the same.”
In a separate interview, Anderson emphasized that their actions weren’t motivated by animosity.
“We didn’t refuse to stand on the podium out of hate,” she said. “We did it because someone has to say this isn’t right. In order to protect the integrity and fairness of girls sports we must stand up for what is right.”
Oregon is reportedly among several states challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which threatens to withhold federal funding from non-compliant governments.
The American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association have both stated that gender exists on a spectrum rather than as a binary structure, contradicting the position taken in the White House’s January 20 executive order “defending women from gender ideology.”
