Trans Olympic hopeful Keelin Godsey tells his story

From Our Group:

On July 21, 2012, I competed at the US Track and Field Olympic Trials in the women’s hammer throw. I competed as the first out female-to-male transgender athlete pre-medical transition. However, this was my second time competing at the Olympic Trials. At the 2008 Trials, I was closeted and placed seventh. This year, however, I was out and placed fifth. I only missed the team by a hair.

The major difference between the Beijing and the London trials was that I was fully, publicly out and everyone knew. My competitors knew. Their coaches knew. Everyone in my field knew. Prior to the games I was inundated with emails and messages, from all sorts of different people about my story and what they thought about it. Dealing with the pressure was a new avenue that I learned to navigate. I trained for 10 years to make the US team. I already had enough pressure on myself to make the team. At the same time, I felt additional pressure to succeed on behalf of the transgender community. Even though there was no direct pressure, I did not want to disappoint all the people who said they looked up to me. I wanted to give them something to look up to.


Keep reading HERE.