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Chris Mosier is breaking barriers as the first known transgender man to qualify for any U.S. national team. Mosier has earned the right to compete in the International Triathlon Union’s 2016 World Duathlon Championships in Spain this June.
Policies for transgender athletes are inconsistent. Under previous International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines, trans athletes were required to undergo reassignment surgery to be eligible to compete. Last month, thanks in part to Mosier’s activism, the IOC removed that requirement.
The International Triathlon Union followed the IOC’s lead and opened the door for Mosier to compete for the U.S. Men’s team. The changes will allow other trans athletes to potentially compete at the Olympic level.
When he’s not training, Mosier, founder of transathlete.com, hopes to be a role model for other athletes around the world. He was inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, and he’s also the executive director goathletes.org, which helps student athletes deal with some of the obstacles he was up against, and aims to eliminate anti-LGBTQ bias in athletics.
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