After being jeered for winning a track and field title for the second year in a row, a 17-year-old transgender athlete sent a strong message to her detractors.
On Saturday, May 31, Verónica Garcia won the class 2A 400-meter sprint at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, Washington, which is about a 45-minute drive from Seattle.
A man wearing a shirt that said ‘Save women’s sports’ with the American flag written on it was seen yelling at the East Valley High School girl as she was stretching off before the event began.
The individual in issue was seated near the starting blocks and was heard repeatedly yelling “girls race” and “let’s go girls,” according to the Seattle Times.
After the race, Verónica was spotted with a placard that read, “Washington State Track and Field Real Girls 2A 400m Champion.” Lauren Matthew, a junior from the West Valley, was her closest rival by just one full second.
In an interview with the Seattle Times, Verónica, whose timing was 55.70 seconds—half a second quicker than her score from the previous year—sent a clear message to her detractors.
“I’ll be honest, I kind of expect it,” she explained.
“But it maybe didn’t have their intended effect. It made me angry, but not angry as in, I wanted to give up, but angry as in, I’m going to push.”
“I’m going to put this in the most PG-13 way, I’m just going to say it’s a damn shame they don’t have anything else better to do. I hope they get a life. But oh well. It just shows who they are as people.”
She continued, “I’m really proud of myself. I did what I came to do, and that’s good enough for me.”
“One of the things that Martin Luther King always pointed out is that you have to do what’s right. Even if there comes risk, you still have to do what’s right.”
Meanwhile, Lauren, who took home second place, told Spokesman-Review after the race, “I shouldn’t have to push myself to the point of where I’m about to, like, die in order to win.”
“I know I’m gonna push myself to keep going, but I don’t want a man pushing me to have to go,” she added, misgendering Garcia.
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