A high school transgender track athlete named Athena Ryan came in second during a competition in California, pushing out of the state championship a female runner named Adeline Johnson who came in fourth and was subsequently seen giving a thumbs-down during the award ceremony.

There was fierce backlash following the contest for the varsity girls’ 1,600-meter run finals on Saturday in Dublin, California. A number of people claimed that Ryan cheated, according to the New York Post.

The transgender is a junior from Sonoma Academy and was the recipient of the silver medal in the run during the North Coast Meet of Champions of California finals.

Ryan will now qualify for the California Interscholastic Federation State Track & Field Championships next week after finishing in the top three. Johnson, who is a senior at Branson High School, will go home.

https://twitter.com/icons_women/status/1660148227910537216

It has not been verified why Johnson gave the thumbs-down during the ceremony but it is very fair to assume it was due to the transgender being allowed to compete in the female sport. The original clip of the gesture was aired by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) on Sunday. It immediately went viral with over a million views and massive support for Johnson who lost her chance to compete further.

“Trans-identifying male, Athena Ryan (Jr) took 2nd today in the ‘Girls 1600m’ at a CA State Championship qualifier meet in Dublin, CA. Ryan beamed while 4th place senior, Adeline Johnson gave a thumb down after losing the chance to advance to the State Championships by 1 spot,” the organization tweeted.

ICONS is a network of women athletes and supporters that are advocating for female-protected categories in sports. One of their biggest voices is swimmer Riley Gaines who has become the face of the movement.

“As a former CA state champion high jumper, I think this is complete and utter nonsense. I’m embarrassed for our state and feel sorry for the girls who were cheated in the process,” a commenter named Darren Marble tweeted.

Protesters at the track meet held signs proclaiming “Protect female sports” before they were confronted by security at the stadium and were removed from the grounds, according to ICONS.

Video of security removing us for having a banner that read “Protect Female Sports.” You can hear in the video how spectators were unaware a boy had just stolen a spot from a girl at the state championship.@SF_TERF_CENTRAL @XxtraEstroGenny @icons_women #SaveWomensSports pic.twitter.com/lRC1UjdhdJ

— WomenAreReal (@WomenAreReals) May 21, 2023

A woman can be seen getting in the faces of protesters who were holding a banner that said, “Protect women’s sports.” She yelled at them, “That is disgusting. I find that f**king offensive.”

Another video by the activist organization WomanAreReal caught the face-off between protesters and security who forcibly removed them.

“They’re kicking us out because we care about women and girls,” a protester declared as the group was forced off the grounds.

A security guard was heard telling them, “That’s not what we’re doing. I’m an activist myself. You can’t do that.”

Ryan finished with a 4:55.91 run time and is looking forward to having “fun” at the State Championship next week. He would have finished last in the male category with the slowest male time in the preliminaries being 4:46:54. The slowest male time in the finals was 4:35:12.

“I dropped like 17 seconds on my season’s best in the past two weeks. After last weekend, I didn’t think I could run low 5s again. I was just coming here trying to break 5 — just glad I finished it out,” Ryan bragged during an interview with MileSplit following the race.

(Video Credit: Daily Mail)

The California Interscholastic Federation implemented its “Gender Identity Participation” rules in 2013, announcing that “All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity.”

The controversial rules mandate that student-athletes “will participate in programs consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed.”

Transgender runner Glenique Frank beat nearly 14,000 women in the female category of the London Marathon and came under intense scrutiny in April, fueling the upset of transgenders being allowed to compete in women’s sports.

“Nearly 14,000 actual females suffered a worse finish position bc of [Frank],” two-time Olympian Mara Yamauchi tweeted following the transgender’s win.

Since then, Frank has ostensibly offered to return the medal following heated blowback.

“If they really think I’ve stolen the place [of a female runner], I don’t mind giving the medal back, because I’ll run again next year for charity,” Frank told the New York Post.

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