#Sport Prague

[rickchung]

Sportsnet x "True or False with Canucks' Filip Hronek".

Canucks defenceman Filip Hronek joins Elliotte Friedman in his home country of Czechia to play a game of True or False and discuss life in Vancouver, the 1998 Olympics and more.

[alpinelogy]

Love that me and my father agree on so many things when it comes to cycling but that we both keep up with different parts of cycling that we both know wildly different things.

Anyway what do you mean the relevant governing body is asking our government to allow them to put in a request for a Tour grand depart to happen over here in the next few years what—

[nabil2911]

#electric #bike #prague #czech #cycling #train #nature #czechrepublic #trip #locomotive #mtb #ceskedrahy #sport #praha #bikelife #car #biker #lokomotiva #kolo #photography #love #cd #sun #szdc #spring #engineering #sunnyday #zug #bicycle #vlak https://www.instagram.com/p/CqB8U1tvdby/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[egsoon]

ثلاثية ايكس

بعد أن فشلت عملية أخرى للقضاء عل�� تلك المجموعة المسماة أناركي 99 والتي تضم مجموعة من الجنود الروس السابقين، يقوم عميل الأمن الوطني أوجستس جيبونز (صامويل ل. جاكسون) بالبحث عن عميلٍ غير تقليدي لينفذ أهدافه. يجد جيبونز ضالته في زاندركيج (فان ديزل) وهو رياضي سابق معروف بسلوكه المتهور واستهتاره بالقانون، ويكلفه جيبونز بمهمة شديدة الخطورة تتعلق بتلك المنظمة التي تهدف لتدمير العالم. تتصاعد الأحداث…

[stateofsport211]

Prague Ch F: Jiri Vesely def. Gauthier Onclin 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) Match Stats

📸 ATP official website

Despite the slight dip in the second set as a result of G. Onclin's more pace to his shots, J. Vesely had his range set since earlier in the first set as he tried to stay offensive from the baseline. This helped him navigating the third set (per his experience) as even though he failed to convert 2 match points on return, he managed to set up his lead early in the tie-breaker thanks to his smashes, followed by his defensive mechanisms. As such, it aided him to generate overwhelming 19 break points, 13 more than G. Onclin's 6, where the latter converted 33% of them within the second and the third sets.

Besides, J. Vesely also served more consistently in this match. Scoring 11 aces than G. Onclin's 2, the Czech stood out in his first serves by winning 73% of his first serve points, 7% more than G. Onclin. The latter somehow double-faulted seven times than J. Vesely's 3, which faded his second serve winning percentage 2% below J. Vesely, making it more attack-prone despite trying to stay balanced.

This title was J. Vesely's first Challenger-level title since the Mouilleron-le-Captif Challenger 2021, his ninth Challenger singles title overall. To add, J. Vesely re-entered the Top 250, landing at 234 after this title, while G. Onclin finished at 259 live at the end of this tournament. For the latter, his next tournament will be the Oeiras 4 Challenger, rewarded by the Special Exempt as he will face Beibit Zhukayev in the first round. Should be some interesting last stretches before the French Open/Roland Garros qualification rounds!

[daminouspurity]

Liverpool F.C. vs. AC Sparta Prague | 2023-24 UEFA Europa League Round of 16 | Predictions EA Sports FC 24

[givemegifs]

[multicanaisaiblogue]

Fiorentina x West Ham United

Jogo emocionante em campo! Acompanhe ao vivo o jogo Fiorentina x West Ham United com transmissão exclusiva em Assista futebol ao vivo em HD no Futemax Ao Vivo 📺🙌

[makingqueerhistory]

I feel reasonably certain you're the one to ask, but if not, i hope you can point me in the right direction.

A while back, you put up a quote from someone about realising their queer identity being akin to wanting to quietly change train carriages. That particular idea has stuck with me, and I wanted to find the exact quote so I could remember it properly. Do you know who it was that said it, and in what context?

I know exactly what you are talking about! The quote you're thinking of is:

"I confess that I am one of those passengers that Fate put in the wrong train. Should I have caused an alarm? I chose the second, quieter way: I applied for a rewrite of the ticket.”

Which was said by Zdeněk Koubek, who was an olympic athlete!

Here is a snippet from our article about him:

"Koubek was born December 8, 1913, in Paskov, Czechia (Now the Czech Republic). Growing up with eight siblings in a poor Catholic household, he was an active child and very fond of athletics. His family moved to Brno while Koubek was still a child, and there he became interested in track and field. With very little formal training, he managed to reach peak performance. He had a decent education and considered becoming a clerk, but chose to dedicate himself to sports. Due to his outstanding performance at 17, he moved to Prague and joined the Prague University team, also working part-time as an instructor and coach. In 1932, at the age of 19, he broke his first national record and shortly after set five more. He won two medals in the Women’s World Games in London in 1934 and set two world records. It was at this point, due to his excellent performance and his gender-non-conforming nature, that rumours started circulating. Newspapers pointed out his “masculine” behaviours. Following this, there was an anonymous request for Koubek to be examined by Olympic-sanctioned doctors to ensure he was not lying about his gender. As this happened, Koubek left competitive sports entirely. Around the same time, writer Lída Merlínová wrote a biography about Zdeněk Koubek titled Zdenin světový rekord // Zdena’s world record. Merlínová was known for her writing on queer people, publishing the first Czech book about lesbians. In Zdenin světový rekord, Koubek is written as various degrees of gender non-conforming, androgynous, and masculine, and this book also added to the controversy of Zdenek’s sportsmanship. After disappearing from sports for some time, Koubek resurfaced with The World Record Woman. Published in Prague Illustrated Newsletter, Koubek himself wrote the 20-part biographical series. In it, he spoke of how doctors had mistakenly assigned him female at birth and how this had affected his life for over two decades. He once again disappeared, this time journeying to the United States of America for six months. He held lectures and told his life story. Upon his return to Prague in 1936, he underwent gender affirmation surgery and changed his legal name. He lived the rest of his life in Prague with his wife, later joined his brother’s rugby team, and never returned to the world of competitive sports. He passed away at the age of 73."

Zdeněk Koubek

[starsainzjr]

Old Money

Pairing: Carlos Sainz x show jumper!reader Faceclaim: Jessica Springsteen

A/N: This one is incredibly INCREDIBLY self indulgent. Carlos is my favorite driver and I'm a show jumper and I'm projecting super hard

✷✷✷✷✷

yourusername Madrid, Spain

Liked by teamkpf, usajumping, carlossainz55 and 12,745 others

yourusername That jump off 😮‍💨 Never a dull moment in Madrid!

View all 963 comments

usajumping Yet another thrilling win!

teamkpf The Padawan becomes the Master

yourusername Never! You'll be world number 1 long after I'm dead

carlossainz55 Thank you for your hospitality! I hope to get you to a race sometime soon

yourusername My pleasure! Consider it a professional courtesy 😉

chiliwilicarlos Carlos??? What are you doing here????

jumpingtoconclusions Our QUEEN! Her rule of the ring will last a long, long time @/teamkpf you did a good job with this one

carlossainz55 Madrid, Spain

Liked by f1, yourusername, charles_leclerc and 427,745 others

carlossainz55 Bit of a different look this weekend. Thank you to @/yourusername and @/usajumping for hosting me!

View all 61,474 comments

yourusername Thank you for coming! My favorite cheerleader all season ☺️

carlossainz55 Come out to a race and take a turn!

yourusername Give me a time and a place and I'll be there!

usajumping Show jumping meets F1!

f1 Now this is a team up we can get behind!

chiliwilicarlos Stop that horse reminds me so much of Carlos why are they actually twins

blackfireproofs HELP WHY ARE YOU RIGHT

blackfireproofs Carlos and his old money era is continuous

yourusername Barcelona, Spain

Liked by usajumping, carlossainz55, charles_leclerc and 11,982 others

yourusername I think I did the cheerleading thing pretty well! Thank you @/carlossainz55 and @/scuderiaferrari for the invite!

View all 1,004 comments

carlossainz55 Red looks good on you! Glad to return the favor

yourusername You should see me in the Team USA jacket 😉

chiliwilicarlos The flirting is killing me

scuderiaferrari Swapping out horseshoes for tyres!

usajumping Are we going to need to figure out a shared custody schedule for our athletes?

jumpingtoconclusions ...I'm gonna have to get into F1 aren't I....

chiliwilicarlos I can become a show jumping fan. I can be a show jumping fan for them

scuderiaferrari Spruce Meadows

Liked by carlossainz55, charles_leclerc, yourusername and 825,374 others

scuderiaferrari Different kind of paddock for C² this weekend! Thank you @/usajumping and @/yourusername for being the best hosts!

View all 87,645 comments

usajumping Did we just become best friends???

scuderiaferrari Give us the name of your catering and you've got a deal

yourusername Glad I could put on a show for you! Thank you for coming! ☺️

charles_leclerc Never seen Carlos that invested in a sporting event before

carlossainz55 Try being more interesting on the track if you want me to pay attention to you

yourusername Them's fightin' words 🥊

chiliwilicarlos I'm calling it now, these two will be dating by the start of next season

blackfireproofs Wait why is this actually so adorable I love this matchup

justaninchident Charles third wheeled hard this weekend

yourusername Prague, Czech Republic

Liked by usajumping, carlossainz55, brainmoggre and 14,468 others

yourusername Couldn't bring it home this time, but we'll go again harder next year. Thank you Prague for such an amazing opportunity!

View all 1,964 comments

teamkpf Keep your head up, kid!

yourusername Thanks, dad ☺️

carlossainz55 Good company in second place in the meantime

yourusername Little too much crying on the kiss n' cry for my liking

chiliwilicarlos 👀

usajumping An all USA podium is nothing to bat an eye at!

jumpingtoconclusions Calling it now, Yn will be the Max Verstappen of show jumping next year

blackfireproofs You've been doing your research!

chiliwilicarlos I've never watched show jumping before this but I can see why Carlos loves it! Yn is a powerhouse and even my inexperienced eye can tell that

carlossainz55 Prague, Czech Republic

Liked by yourusername, charles_leclerc, landonorris and 614,194 others

carlossainz55 Nice to get a quick break, but it's back to the grind 💪

View all 99,735 comments

charles_leclerc Carlos, call me.

blackfireproofs Ooooooh someone's in troubleeeeee

landonorris CARLOS. CALL ME.

chiliwilicarlos I would kill to be a fly on this wall

chiliwilicarlos Okay, I'm revising my bet. By Christmas.

jumpingtoconclusions So this is the man that has my idol's heart

blackfireproofs The way that I am dying for these two to get together

scuderiaferrari @/usajumping Our driver is in the wrong paddock

chiliwilicarlos ADMIN WHAT DO YOU KNOW

yourusername Yas Marina

Liked by carlossainz55, scuderiaferrari, usajumping and 31,037 others

yourusername Second place is the best place

View all 2,002 comments

carlossainz55 Next year is our year, chula

yourusername Gonna kick some ass, lindo

chiliwilicarlos THE NICKNAMES KILL ME NOW

charles_leclerc You're partying with us tonight tho right????

yourusername You couldn't get rid of me if you tried 😉

blackfireproofs Okay but the old money vibes with these two...

chiliwilicarlos The way she unabashedly posts him 😭 Girl is head over heels

blackfireproofs If I were this close to Carlos I would post him all the time too tbh

yourusername Mallorca, Spain

Liked by carlossainz55, teamkpf, charles_leclerc and 32,089 others

yourusername Rest and Recharge

View all 3,163 comments

charles_leclerc Why wasn't I invited

carlossainz55 We were lost without our professional third wheel

yourusername I'll come spend a week in Monaco to make it up

teamkpf Kid, you don't tell me anything anymore

yourusername Sorry, dad

jumpingtoconclusions Oh she's gonna be unstoppable

justaninchident Charles is gonna become their kid mark my words

chiliwilicarlos I will protect them with my life

blackfireproofs Relationship confirmation 👀👀👀

chiliwilicarlos Even if they're not dating their friendship is enough to make me believe in love again

carlossainz55 Wellington, Florida

Liked by yourusername, scuderiaferrari, charles_leclerc and 582,946 others

carlossainz55 Today we discovered that I'm allergic to hay

View all 41,046 comments

yourusername I really am so sorry

carlossainz55 I will brave it for you, chula

charles_leclerc I wanna meet the ponies 😭

yourusername I'll give Carlos' next ticket to you

carlossainz55 HEY

chiliwilicarlos I can see Carlos being a horsey boyfriend

blackfireproofs He would carry her ring bag with reverence

jumpingtoconclusions Our king and queen

usajumping Paris, France

Liked by yourusername, teamkpf, carlossainz55 and 3,183 others

usajumping Presenting Team USA for the 2024 Summer Olympics! These riders are heading to Paris! Kent Farrington, Laura Kraut, and Yn Yln will be the main team while Natalie Dean and Bliss Heers act as substitutes.

Let's cheer Team USA on to gold!

View all 491 comments

yourusername Let's go! See you in Paris!

teamkpf Get the countdown started!

carlossainz55 @/maxverstappen1 Can I borrow your jet?

maxverstappen1 You kidding??? I'm coming with!

chiliwilicarlos Yn won over Max too 😭

jumpingtoconclusions This is going to be the most star studded kiss n' cry ever

jumpingtoconclusions The sheer power in this team announcement 😮‍💨

yourusername Paris, France

Liked by carlossainz55, teamkpf, usajumping and 50,745 others

yourusername What a dream! Silver in the individual and gold in the team event! Could not be more grateful ☺️

View all 3,038 comments

teamkpf No one else I would rather share the podium with! You'll be kicking me off the top step soon

yourusername Still a long way to go to catch you! Best mentor ever

usajumping Now that's how it's done!

scuderiaferrari A member of the Tifosi is a gold medalist! Congratulazioni from everyone here at Scuderia Ferrari!

yourusername Grazie mille!

carlossainz55 So so proud! Cannot be happier to call you mi amor this weekend!

yourusername My biggest fan! Could not have done this without you mi vida!

chiliwilicarlos She called him her life 😭 I'll be sleeping on the train tracks tonight

carlossainz55 Paris, France

Liked by yourusername, charles_leclerc, landonorris and 718,364 others

carlossainz55 Mi campeona

View all 42,748 comments

yourusername Mi amor ❤️ I love you

carlossainz55 Never been more proud ❤️

landonorris Damn, someone stole my bitch

yourusername I can share

carlossainz55 No, Lando needs to learn to share

charles_leclerc Professional third wheel reporting for duty

yourusername Thank you for your service 🫡

blackfireproofs Oh he's in LOVE love

jumpingtoconclusions But can we discuss the picture of her in front of the Eiffel Tower? Proud boyfriend moment

chiliwilicarlos THEY'RE SO CUTE IT CAUSES ME PHYSICAL PAIN

yourusername Zandvoort

Liked by carlossainz55, teamkpf, scuderiaferrari and 40,467 others

yourusername Proud doesn't even begin to cover it! The trophy shelf is getting crowded

View all 4,172 comments

carlossainz55 Mine can go in the closet, your gold medal takes priority

yourusername ABSOLUTELY NOT

carlossainz55 Mi amor ❤️

yourusername Mi vida ❤️

scuderiaferrari Our biggest flex is having a power couple like this in our garage

usajumping Ferrari garage 🤝 Team USA barn

chiliwilicarlos They love each other so much it's so damn cute

blackfireproofs The power couple we didn't know we needed

✷✷✷✷✷

All photos from Pinterest, Instagram, or Google Images

[nabil2911]

#electric #bike #prague #czech #cycling #train #nature #czechrepublic #trip #locomotive #mtb #ceskedrahy #sport #praha #bikelife #car #biker #lokomotiva #kolo #photography #love #cd #sun #szdc #spring #engineering #sunnyday #zug #bicycle #vlak https://www.instagram.com/p/CrMmgW7PNOI/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[peachhcs]

Luke is definitely upset for Sammy, especially after what went down in the gling to worlds fic

He knows she was so excited to spend time with Will

even though we saw some of luke’s reaction already, here’s a small blurb of him calling will about it:

the phone rang four times before will finally picked up. luke paced around his room with anger written all over his face because even though samy and him mom said not to be mean, luke was gonna be mean.

“dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?” luke spat out without even a hello or a how are you, similarly to how ryan greeted will the other night on the phone.

the blonde flinched, “you’re gonna be on my back too?”

“what the fuck do you mean i’m gonna be on your back?! of course i am! you spend an entire month with my sister in prague and then you go and break up with her as soon as we get home? what the fuck?” luke wasn’t having any of it. he’s known this kid for his entire life so the older boy was very confused on what got into him.

will flinched again at luke’s harsh tone, but he knew he deserved it. “i’m sorry,” was all the boy could manage.

“jesus christ, sorry? that’s it? did something happen between you two or what? i’ve never seen my sister this sad about something before and that’s saying a lot,” luke continued, his tone cooling off just the slightest.

“no nothing happened. i just..i don’t know man,” will frowned at the idea of samy being upset because of him.

“i’m giving you thirty seconds to come up with a better excuse than whatever you just said to me,” luke grew a bit impatient. when will didn’t say anything more, the brunette scoffed in annoyance. “look, i’ve known you your whole life. i won’t pry into things, but i never ever thought you and my sister would break up or stop being friends for that matter. you don’t have to tell me, but i’m worried for my sister and you,” the older boy’s tone softened out even more.

a sigh escaped will’s lips, “there’s just a lot going on, i guess. i can’t be the great boyfriend she wants me to be when we’re across the country from each other. she doesn’t deserve that from me. she deserves someone who’s there for her all the time. i can’t do that from california. i just..it’s for the best.”

“so said she cared about that? she doesn’t care about any of that, will. you’re all that has mattered to her. the distance..fuck that. she knows you have obligations to your sport. i don’t think she would’ve started dating you if she knew that,” luke tried.

“that’s the problem, though. i know her to know that the distance bothers her sometimes too but she’d never say any of that to me. i just thought doing it now would save us from something worse later on,” will tried explaining his reasoning.

“i think the worse has already happened, will. your logic is like highkey shit. she was so excited to be in worlds with you and support you and then you just turn around and do this shit?” the brunette shook his head in disappointment even though will couldn’t see.

“look, i already feel worse, okay? but no one’s changing my mind about any of this. she deserves better,” will stood firm on his decision.

"you're actually the stupidest person i've ever met. i'll talk to you later, man," luke didn't have anything else to say, so he ended the call.

a frustrated sigh left the boy's lips knowing will and samy were definitely not getting back together anytime soon.

[stateofsport211]

📸 🎥 ATP official website

After five consecutive holds, J. Vesely had a break point as a result of G. Onclin's failed volley before he broke to 4-2, followed by a hold to 5-2. It took two more games before J. Vesely had an earlier chance to serve for the match, but G. Onclin capitalized on J. Vesely's unforced errors by firing a forehand winner to generate his break point before he broke to 5-4. Subsequently, G. Onclin held his serves to 5-5. Interestingly, G. Onclin's forehand was fired too far for J. Vesely's one-point lead 2 games later, where the Czech notably had 2 match points, which were foiled as the tie-breaker became unavoidable.

J. Vesely then had a smashing start to the tie-breaker, as he smashed his way to lead a mini-break to 2-0 before strengthening his lead to 3-0. Somehow, his defenses got G. Onclin misfiring his forehand to generate the former's match point (6-1), and while the Belgian's intuitive volley saved one of those match points, it was insufficient due to J. Vesely successfully serving it out, taking the third set 7-6(3) to secure his first Challenger title of the year.

[painterofhorizons]

Happy 35th birthday to me

I've been dealing with a lot of insecurities and doubts and one-third-life-crisis kind of thoughts this year, so let's take this day as a reminder to look at things that went great this year instead.

I keep trying with everything, despite things kicking my ass - quitting ain't an option so I won't

One of the things I've been keeping trying was building a good gym routine and while that didn't work constantly over the year, it has worked great at times and I'm gonna keep trying to make the good routine times longer and steadier and work towards a lasting routine, because after decades of hating sport I finally found something I love for how it makes me feel

I've gone to the beach more often than ever! I live so close to the sea and yet don't go there enough, but this year I've been at the ocean plenty so far and will go many more times

I've become pretty good about keeping a somewhat healthy work life balance and defend that energetically towards the unhealthy work side

Went on a great trip to Berlin with my dear Italian friend @kyratittyfish and we will add a great winter Island vacation later this year!

I wrote and published actual fic. I've finally back writing and enjoying the heck of it!!

Made plenty of cat friends.

Started meditating after finally finding a guided meditation channel that I can stand.

Found new music i enjoy a lot.

Got a membership card for the local art museum.

I was in Prague for a conference! Hella cool trip.

Got back in touch with a couple of friends.

Despite all the doubts and hardships I'm in a so much better place mentally than I used to be.

It's been a good year so far, despite everything.

[extraliga-related]

Ondřej Pavel is set to make his NHL debut for the Avs and, to mark the occasion, his dad posted one of his school assignments from when he was 10.

His essay on "What I want to be" is coming true! 🥲

[translation below]

14.1.2011 What I want to be

I want to be a professional hockey player because my dad and mom have been taking me to the rink in Zbraslav since I was two or three years old. Ever since then I want to be on the ice all the time with a hockey stick in hand and a puck. It is my favorite sport because of its toughness, speed and teamwork with my teammates.

I'm lucky to have the best coaches in Prague. When I started playing hockey I was coached by the National Team's goalie Mr. Kuliček and now I am coached by the best coach Petr Hrbek.

There are downsides in every sport. In hockey I can think of one right away. For example, at the beginning of their career every hockey player has to wear a helmet with a cage, but at the age of eighteen it has to be taken off and replaced by a plastic visor which only protects the eyes, so when someone shoots the puck and it hits you in the mouth it really hurts.

I also got hit in the wrong spot once and was carried to the bench by my teammates. !OUCH! As I said, hockey hurts and everyone knows it.

If anyone ever wants to start playing hockey they have to count on hard collisions, painful moments and the great joy of scoring goals because over time it will get less and less.

If I want to make it to the NHL, the best league in the world, every match counts. What I do now is not enough, I have to work on myself and train, train, train.

[mariacallous]

When Zdenek Koubek walked into an office job in Prague in 1935, he braced himself for a familiar fear: ostracization by his colleagues. For the first time, he was showing up presenting as his authentic, masculine self. It’s a moment familiar to many transgender people, seared into your brain as you navigate coming out to the world and being who you actually are. But for almost everyone else, it’s private. For Koubek, it was relentlessly covered in the global press—in a society where, until a lawyer granted him a change of birth certificate, he could be arrested for “cross-dressing” for donning pants and a men’s coat.

A year earlier, Koubek had become a national icon winning a gold medal in the 800-meter—not in the Olympics but in the Women’s World Games, a rival event that allowed women to compete in events that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would not. But for Koubek, who in modern terms would be labeled an intersex person assigned female at birth, the victory wracked him with guilt as he felt he was an imposter in women’s events despite society labeling him as one. His story and many others are chronicled in Michael Waters’s new book, The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports, which dives deep into the trans individuals who disrupted attempts to strictly define gender at the Olympics.

Despite current conventions, sport was not always policed the same way it is now. Even after some federations spent decades using tests to determine someone’s gender, the rise in visibility of trans and intersex athletes has prompted federations to once again explicitly define who is eligible for which gender categories. Athletes such as Caster Semenya—a runner from South Africa whose leaked private medical information determined her to be intersex—have been caught in this fight over who federations determine fits in the male and female categories.

Koubek and other athletes profiled in The Other Olympians would be undeniably categorized as intersex or transmasculine by today’s standards—identified by others as female at birth but identifying as men themselves. Meanwhile, the non-cisgender athletes who draw the most scrutiny today are transfeminine, identified as male at birth but identifying as women themselves. The trans men of the 1930s were depicted as being cheats trying to enter women’s competitions for their own advantage. The trans women of the 2020s are being depicted as cheats trying to enter women’s competitions for their own advantage.

Yet the idea that gender has to be tested did not arise out of nowhere—it was one driven by sports administrators of the 1930s with distinctly dubious politics.

The Other Olympians centers on the stories of these queer athletes, a time when we have much more understanding about transgender identities and those same athletes’ access to medical and social transitions. What is striking, however, is the difference many of these trans athletes received in the media compared with the attention many get today. Society at large was surprisingly accepting of the malleability of gender, according to media reports the book details. But the officials in charge were determined to enforce their own hard boundaries.

“It was just a small handful of officials who felt threatened by the idea that athletes could transition, then were like, ‘Oh, we have to do something about it,’” Waters told Foreign Policy. “And they didn’t really seem to know what they were doing and just decided that they had to do something.”

Koubek struggled with his victory in the Women’s World Games and almost considered publicly returning his medal during the event given his struggles with his own gender identity. It’s the reverse of the often pushed, if evidence-less, notion today that athletes are supposedly subverting gender binaries in the pursuit of victory. Athletes such as former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines have even gone as far to sue sport organizations for letting transgender athletes compete alongside them. Other cisgender athletes have vocalized support for barring trans athletes on similar grounds.

Koubek was so concerned with his place in the sporting landscape that he eschewed all forms of celebration of his accomplishments, seeking instead to ensure that others benefited. His actions represent the Olympic ideal of fair play and equal competition—in contrast to the sport officials.

Starting with the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, sport officials began to embrace the notion that sex testing was vital to create a level playing field in elite sport. The stories that prompted these officials to take action would be unrecognizable in today’s cultural landscape.

Being an elite athlete requires immense discipline and control over your own body, forming it to the highest standards in your sport. That kind of dedication toward changing and adapting your own figure is something many transgender people innately relate to. Yet instead of embracing how trans athletes bridge the gender divide with agency, sport officials viewed them as a threat, even if they wanted to compete in the gender they identified as.

Notably, most transgender sport bans these days allow transmasculine athletes an opportunity to seek an exemption to take testosterone as part of their transition without any sort of other medicalization needed to “prove” their gender. Testosterone is one of the most commonly known banned substances but a necessary part of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for transmasculine athletes. Sport bodies have deemed that for transmasculine athletes, taking testosterone as part of transition is fundamentally different from its use to doping

Meanwhile, transfeminine athletes, in an increasing amount of sports, are required to medicalize themselves to levels deemed passable by cisgender sport officials, many of whom are cisgender men. As part of transfeminine HRT, many trans women take a combination of estrogen and testosterone suppressants while being carefully monitored by a doctor—ideally. However, sport bodies have taken that further, declaring limits to the amount of testosterone in which transfeminine athletes can have in their bodies, even if it is not what their bodies would regularly be producing while on HRT. This means instead of just pursuing a medical transition, transfeminine athletes need to conform their endocrine system to specific ranges set by sport officials.

Two officials, American Avery Brundage and Swede Sigfrid Edstrom, were key to defining gender at the Olympics. Edstrom for many years before World War II led the International Association of Athletics Federations (now known as World Athletics) and used his political maneuvering to bring the Women’s World Games under his purview. His main ally was Brundage, the head of the American Olympic Committee, a precursor to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, who successfully blocked a boycott movement aimed at stopping U.S. participation at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.

Increasingly working with German sport officials close to the Nazi regime, Edstrom and Brundage rose to the top of power in the Olympic world and introduced regimes of sex testing and medical certification. Both eventually assumed the Presidency of the IOC, and their reactionary gender politics still define many of the norms today.

“I do really believe after researching this history that where we’re at today was not inevitable, but I think sex testing has become kind of an intrinsic part of how the Olympics worked for so long that it can kind of feel like it’s just how sports works,” Waters told Foreign Policy.

As sport federations such as World Rugby and World Athletics seek to limit transfeminine athlete participation, The Other Olympians seeks to showcase queer history in sport that has been around since before many modern practices were in place.

One area where more scholarship could be useful is the highlighting of transfeminine, or potentially transfeminine, athletes in the 1930s and how they navigated the changing sporting landscape. Did they, too, wish to compete as their authentic selves but hid their desires? But discrimination against trans women in the 1930s was even tighter than against trans men.

“I think my big thing is, like we’re really seeing now with all these anti-trans policies, how queer history is not linear and how it’s not a linear story of progress,” Waters said about what surprised him the most from researching The Other Olympians.

Sports have always been inherently political. So are our notions of gender. Intersex and trans people blur simple binaries in challenging ways. Those political decisions impact who gets to participate in the upper echelons of competition. These decisions impact sports all the way down to the grassroots levels, as federations and national governing bodies take their cues from the IOC, where the latest policy has allowed each international federation to set its own rules.

For example, British rowing has set a policy in which only women assigned female at birth can compete, while transfeminine athletes must compete in a newly created open category, othering them and separating them from main competitions. This policy is in line with the current British government’s view of gender and identity, but notably it is very different from the World Rowing policy that allows trans athletes to compete in the gender they identify with restrictions.

Or, in other words, as Waters said, “We can see the direct line between what happened in 1936 and what we have today.”