補充美國Women's Running雜誌訪問Amelia Gapin的文章。
http://goo.gl/UpgiP4
IOC Says Transgender Athletes Can Take Part In Olympics
The transgender community has a reason to celebrate with a recent
announcement in the sports world. The International Olympic Committee (IOC)
announced new guidelines which will allow athletes to compete in the Olympics
and other international events without undergoing sex reassignment surgery.
“I think it’s great. I think it’s a long time coming. Surgery isn’t what
every transgender person has or can afford. So now allowing transgender
people to compete without surgery is bringing it more up-to-date. This
creates an open and more fair environment,” expresses Amelia Gapin, a
transgender woman, marathon runner and finalist for the 2015 Women’s Running
Cover Runner Contest.
The revised policy now allows athletes who transition from female to male to
compete without any restrictions.
Those transitioning from male to female must undergo hormone therapy. They
also must have a certain testosterone level 12 months prior to competition
and maintain the qualifying hormone level throughout competition and pass any
potential hormone-level tests too.
“Your genitals don’t affect how you perform. It’s your hormone levels that
do,” explains Gapin.
The USATF rules for transgender runners are still based off of the old
Olympic guidelines, but there is still hope that this new change will open
doors for other events. “Right now if a transgender is transitioning to be a
woman but has not had surgery, she’ll have to qualify under the male
qualifying time and age,” Gapin explains.
A normal testosterone level for a man is about 300 nanograms per deciliter
(ng/dL). For a woman, it’s 25 to 70 ng/dL.
“What happens is when you go on hormones, as a transgender woman, you go on
a testosterone blocker. As a transgender man, you go on testosterone. The
testosterone blockers will make your testosterone levels go down,” explains
Gapin. Everyone’s body reacts differently to the treatment; testosterone
levels can drop really low, stay in the normal range, or climb to the upper
end of the range.
“For me, my testosterone went down to just about zero. That means I had less
testosterone than any other transgender woman, which put me at a disadvantage.
”
Gapin went from running a 3:08 marathon to a 3:44. “It took some time to
mentally cope with that time. I knew ahead of time that that would be my
reality. But it took time to accept it. I was putting in the same effort, but
I was running slower. I had to work harder to still run slower. I’ve trained
harder for races since I’ve transitioned…and still ran slower. So yeah, it
was difficult. After a couple years, it just becomes your reality. It’s your
normal.”
The testosterone blockers can have other side effects as well. The most
common drug in the United States is called Spironolactone. It’s actually a
potassium-sparing diuretic, so “it makes you have to pee all the time, which
can cause dehydration. It also causes your body to retain potassium,” says
Gapin. “So you have to watch your diet—I had to avoid bananas and kale,
basically all the really healthy foods that have a lot of potassium in them.”
Surgery or no surgery, there are many issues transgender athletes’ bodies
deal with as they transition.
“I think the issue is people think or thought transgender athletes have an
advantage without really understanding the full effects of transition. It’s
not cut and dry like, ‘Oh you used to have testosterone in your body, and you
’re going to be a stronger athlete—forever.'”
For a transgender woman to have “bottom surgery” (as Gapin calls it), it
cost about $20,000 to $25,000 and recovery varies per individual. “It can
take six weeks before you can maybe walk. Or it could be 12 to 16 weeks
before you’re running. But all that time you’re not running, your body gets
weaker. So it’s not like you have surgery and then 10 weeks later you’re
back to where you were. You’re starting from zero.”
Gapin had to train harder, run longer and push herself more than ever before.
“I discovered that my body needed more recovery time. Besides time, I
noticed I had weaker hip muscles, which could lead to injury. So I had to do
more strength training, foam rolling…a lot of things I could get away with
before I couldn’t now. This just became my normal and I finally accepted it.
”
“It’s my hope that USATF and other governing bodies will update their
policies as well,” expresses Gapin. “This is a big step forward and it
brings the Olympic rules up to date to where they should be and aligns what
the NCAA has already done. It creates an environment where transgender people
can actually take part.”
有鑑於我是Amelia Gapin的個人好友，
也深感這件事的重要性(畢竟我也是MtF馬拉松跑者)，就把全文翻成中文讓大家參考~
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國際奧委會表示跨性別者可參加奧運
最近體壇有一件值得跨性別者慶祝的大新聞：國際奧林匹克委員會(IOC)宣布一項新方針
，允許運動員不須進行變性手術，即可參加奧運會與其他國際運動競賽。
Amelia Gapin表示：「奧委會的這項決定是一件很好的事情，很高興我們終於走到這一步
。不是所有的跨性別者都會動手術—或者『有錢』動手術。現在允許跨性別者免術參賽，
才符合時代潮流，也讓奧運的環境更開放與公平。」Amelia是跨女馬拉松跑者，也進入了
2015年Women's Running雜誌封面人物選拔的決選名單。
在新政策中，女跨男運動選手可以自由參賽，沒有限制。
男跨女運動選手則需要進行賀爾蒙療法，並且在比賽前12個月以及比賽期間，睪固酮含量
都要低於某個數值，並可能需要通過其他賀爾蒙檢驗。
Amelia解釋說：「你的性器官不是影響運動表現的主因，賀爾蒙才是。」
美國田徑協會(USATF)對於跨性別跑者的規定，依然沿用舊的奧運規範，但這個最新的政
策改變可望讓其他運動比賽跟進。Amelia表示：「目前假如一個跨女沒有動過手術，她依
然需要符合男性的門檻成績。」
正常男性的睪固酮約為300 ng/dL，女性約為25-70 ng/dL。
Amelia說：「跨性別者進行賀爾蒙療法，以MtF而言吃的是抗雄藥物，FtM吃的是雄激素。
抗雄藥物讓你的睪固酮降低，」但每個人的身體對藥物的反應不盡相同，有些人的雄激素
可以降到很低，有些維持正常女性的標準，有些會接近範圍的最高限度。
「對我來說，我(吃藥之後)睪固酮就降到幾乎是零了，也就是說我的雄激素比其他跨女都
要低，讓我在運動表現上居於劣勢。」
Amelia的馬拉松完賽成績從3:08降到3:44，「對於成績退步，我花了不少時間心理建設。
儘管我早就知道現實就是如此，但依然需要一點時間來接受它。我用同樣的力氣跑步，但
速度變慢了。就算我更用力跑，還是比以前慢。自從開始服藥之後，我更加努力訓練準備
路跑比賽，但跑得依然比以前慢。這是一件很困難的事情。幾年之後，妳才會逐漸覺得這
是正常的。」
抗雄藥物也有其他副作用。以美國最常用的spironolactone (蘇拉通、安達通)來說，它
也是保鉀利尿劑，所以「會讓妳一天到晚跑廁所，可能會造成脫水，而且也讓妳的身體保
留鉀，」Amelia說，「妳要特別注意飲食—我不能吃香蕉和甘藍菜，還有許許多多高鉀的
健康食物。」
不論有沒有動手術，跨性別運動員在性別轉換的過程中，都有許多問題需要面對。
「我覺得癥結在許多人直覺認為，跨性別運動員佔有優勢，卻沒有真正了解性別轉換造成
的影響。事情絕對不是『妳身體以前有很多雄激素，所以妳永遠都比原生女來得強』這麼
單純。」
跨女如果要動Amelia說的「該邊」手術，大概要花兩萬到兩萬五千美金，而且每個人術後
恢復的時間不同。「妳動完手術後，可能要六個禮拜才能走路，12到16個禮拜才能跑步。
但當妳沒跑步的時候，身體是持續在變弱。所以並不是動完手術後十個禮拜，妳就恢復成
正常跑者了，這基本上等於砍掉重練。」
Amelia必須比以前更努力訓練、跑得更遠、而且讓自己比以前更加燃燒小宇宙。
「我發現我的身體需要更多時間來恢復。不僅是時間，我的臀部肌肉也弱化了，讓受傷的
風險增加。所以我要做更多的重量訓練、使用泡棉滾筒…等等許多我以前可以省略掉但現
在不行的訓練。我現在終於能接受這就是我正常的身體。」
「我希望美國田徑協會和其他運動組織也可以更新政策，」Amelia表示。「這是跨性別的
一大步，奧運的標準終於正確、符合時代潮流，也和國家大學體育協會(NCAA)早已採用的
標準相同了。這會塑造一個讓跨性別者能夠真正參與的體壇。」
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身為一個MtF跑者，我對Amelia的話感同身受，
我前年夏天開始吃藥，去年四月底開始跑步，
有種感覺不管怎麼跑、怎麼訓練，似乎早已碰到瓶頸了，
去年一整年跑了800公里，但成績是絲毫沒有進步，唯一進步的只有耐力，
從一開始只能連跑5公里，現在已經可以跑半馬了。
但這大概也是我一直不斷練跑才有辦法勉強維持，去年12月到今年1月中因為養傷，
跑量跟次數都大大降低，但藥當然還得繼續吃，
這段期間雌激素不斷把身體的肌肉/脂肪分布改變，
造成現在每次跑起來感覺明顯變弱變慢了。
許多朋友安慰我說這是因為我傷還沒好、台灣天氣濕熱空氣差...等等的原因，
但我很清楚他們說的應該都不是主因。
我已經是個貨真價實的女跑者，只是礙於種種原因，路跑只能跑男生組而已 ><
回台灣前，在波士頓當地跑團認識的好友Kelly也跟我說，
她可以體會這是多麼困難的事情，畢竟這是我賀爾蒙之間的拔河，
運動會造成雄激素增加，但我不斷吃藥把它抗掉...
一方面羨慕Amelia吃蘇拉通就能把雄激素降到接近零，
(雖然她也私下跟我說過她希望胸部長得更大XD)，
一方面也覺得若我雄激素太低了，是不是路跑會越跑越慢，離波士頓馬拉松又更遠了，
真是身為MtF跑者的甜蜜負擔啊~(笑)
還是衷心希望台灣路跑界能從善如流，參考奧運規定，對跨性別跑者更加友善。
很好奇台灣路跑這麼流行，板上有沒有也在跑步的MtF呢，我們組個團體一起努力吧！
奧運都能免術參賽了，我們的免術換證咧？(敲碗)