Caitlyn Jenner – the retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete formerly known as Bruce Jenner – claims biological males who join women's athletic teams have "no big advantage" when they fiercely compete with females in weightlifting, brutally tackle girls on the football field, blow past other women on the race track or even deal powerful knockout punches to ladies.
Jenner, a 67-year-old transgendered woman who began transitioning two years ago, appeared as a guest on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Monday. It was Carlson's first show in the 8 p.m. Eastern time slot previously held by former Fox host Bill O'Reilly.
Watch Carlson's interview with Jenner:
During the interview, Carlson referenced the case of transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, who was born a man, winning the Australian international women's competition March 19. Hubbard, 39, lifted 591 pounds, nearly 20 pounds more than the woman who won the silver medal by lifting 572 pounds.
Hubbard was one of the transgender athletes in WND's big list of headline-making transgender athletes crashing the world of women's sports.
Carlson observed: "A transgender woman just won a major weightlifting title. Some people said, well, this is someone who has a massive physical advantage over the other entrants in that contest. It seemed like a real thing to me."
The National Collegiate Athletic Association and Olympics have instituted policies allowing transgender athletes to compete on teams that correspond with genders with which they identify, provided the athletes undergo a year of hormone replacement therapy.
Jenner replied: "The Olympic Committee is way ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to dealing with identifying transgender issues in competing. Back when I was competing in the '70s, all the women had saliva tests to make sure their in their DNA they were female. We had the East German women and the Soviet women and all that kind of stuff. Well, since then, there has been a lot of gender non-conforming. We don't quite know where they fit into the athletic world. And the Olympic Committee has done 20 years of studies on issues of hormone levels of whether you need gender confirmation surgery, what can you do as a trans person to be able to compete as your authentic self. And they've come up with guidelines. If you meet those guidelines, you can compete. And obviously this woman did."
"Do you think it's fair?" Carlson asked the former Olympian.
"Yes, I think it's totally fair," Jenner said. "If the Olympic Committee thinks it's fair, I'm fine with it. Yes, because there's no big advantage."
But Carlson responded, "In that case, there's a big physical advantage."
As WND reported, Ohio University biological sciences lecturer Chris Schwirian confirmed that most males have a physical advantage over women: "Faster men's times for 100 to 800 meters are mostly due to men, on average, having greater muscle mass – and a larger portion of it is fast-twitch, which allows them to generate greater force, speed and anaerobically produced energy. At all distances beyond 800 meters, the main reason for the gap is men's higher aerobic capacity [VO2max], on average, which is due to their typically having less body fat, more hemoglobin and muscle mass, and larger hearts and lungs than women."
On average, men have longer and larger bones, which gives them mechanical advantages over women, since they have greater leverage, increased height and larger frames to support muscle. Their bones are also more dense, and they have tougher ligaments, making them less prone to sports injury.
But Jenner wouldn't have it.
"Well, we're not going to get into all that kind of stuff," he responded. "That has nothing to do with it."
What do YOU think? How do you like Tucker Carlson as news show host? Sound off in today's WND poll!
Jenner also talked about his conservative political views during the interview, including the fact that he voted for President Donald Trump:
I never actually came out and outwardly supported Trump. The media did that for me. I am on the Republican conservative side, and he wound up being our candidate, so certainly I was going to vote for him. He looked like he would be pretty good on all LGBT issues, which is important. My loyalties do not lie with Donald Trump. My loyalties do not lie with the Republican Party. My loyalties, and what I'm fighting for, is the community, the LGBT community and in particular the trans issues that are out there. … So that's where my fight is. I thought Trump would be pretty good, but he's kind of disappointed me in the first 100 days on those issues.
Jenner also recently opened up in his new memoir, "The Secrets of My Life," about his struggles with thoughts of suicide and three failed marriages. Jenner does use his former name, Bruce, in his book, according to the Associated Press.
Jenner appeared on Carlson's show only one day after it was revealed the conservative street artist Sabo created disturbing posters of Stephen King's evil clown from the horror classic "It," except the clown images featured Jenner's face. Sabo's posters and fake advertisements were erected outside Fox studios before the Carlson appearance.
In one of the ads, located on bus benches, Jenner's head can be seen inside a dark sewer drain, where the "It" clown, known as Pennywise, lives. "Tonight on Tucker Carlson: IT," the text says. "Based on a novel reality."
Jenner's head is shown atop Pennywise's body in another poster featured behind glass at several bus stops. The poster reads: "IT on Ticker Carlson tonight."
The artist, Sabo, is known for his art ridiculing Hollywood stars. in November 2016, he captured nationwide attention when he poked fun of leftist celebrities who vowed they'd leave the country if Donald Trump became president. The following are some of his fake realtor ads he posted around Los Angeles.
In 2015, Jenner told ABC News' Diane Sawyer that when he was a child of about 8 or 9 years old in the late 1950s, he first began wearing dresses from his mother’s and sisters’ closets.
“I would say I’ve always been confused with my gender identity since I’ve been this big,” Jenner said.
Jenner erupted into fame with his 1976 victory in the Olympic decathlon at Montreal’s Summer Games. The winner of the event is popularly given the title of “World’s Greatest Athlete.”
The accomplishment was also a symbolic victory for the U.S. over the U.S.S.R. in the Cold War.
Jenner described in later interviews how he had been living in a $145-a-month apartment and driving a car he bought for $175 when he instantly became a millionaire by signing an agreement to promote Wheaties.
Jenner starred in a commercial in 1978 that showed his athletic performance then cut to him pouring himself a bowl of cereal. A box of Wheaties bearing his image sits front and center.
“I really worked hard getting ready for that day,” Jenner says. “I put in a lot of years, and put away a lot of Wheaties. Because a complete breakfast with Wheaties is good tasting and good for you.”
Jenner served as the spokesman for Wheaties from 1977 to 1979. He later worked in several movies and briefly played a role in the television show “CHiPS,” about the California Highway Patrol.
Jenner made headlines in 2015 for growing out his hair, shaving his Adam’s apple and wearing nail polish.
The father of six and stepfather to four later became known for his links to the Kardashian clan after his marriage to Kris Kardashian in 1991 and the family’s rise to stardom on reality television. Jenner and Kris Kardashian divorced in 2013 after 22 years of marriage.