trans man swims in Alcatraz competition

[expanding_x_man]

This guy is only 5'2" and is competing in this Alcatraz swim. I guess I should get off my couch! I am much taller and unfortunately - much lazier! I was an excellent runner at one time in my life, but now- I barely run to catch the bus! Gotta change this. Heh. But this shows that size has not much to do with athletic excellence. I mean, if

Comments

[chthonictonic]

Thanks for sharing that. However, height is not a strong limiter in swimming. I do open water swimming and my training partner is a barely five foot tall lady who totally smokes people with a foot on her. She also did the Alcatraz swim, when she was 16, with no wetsuit. Good female swimmers have always been faster than average male swimmers, so I'm not sure why it's surprising that he, *even being trans* is competing against cis men. In distance swimming, the performance differences between male and female tend to be somewhat slim. I've swam on master's teams with internationally ranked females who swam faster than all the males. In fact, on this particular swim http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/press_release_123.htm a female was the overall winner.

He makes a good point about using athletics to feel more comfortable in one's body. I've found that to be helpful as well.

[expanding_x_man]

You know, I think you are right about female swimmers in this particular type of extreme long distance swimming. Wasn't it a woman who set the record for swimming the English Channel long ago in the 80's or something? So, maybe this article is all screwed up because of this. Thanks for pointing it out. I did remember that, but also got caught up in the article.

It is great though that he is putting some positive spin on us in the media. And, yes it inspires me to run and lift weights, although not to put on a wetsuit. You ain't catching me swimming in that cold water, or in any ocean! Hah, I am somewhat afraid of water although the pool is OK. But, no wild water like the ocean! Especially in SF where it is cold and full of sharks! (really, people do get chomped now and then, and do drown in the rip tides).

Still I'm glad one of us can do it.

[chthonictonic]

i do think it's awesome that he's doing this stuff. I do think there's a media bias in sports reporting to assume that all male bodied people are inherently stronger/faster/better than female bodied people in all sports. All in all, it was a relatively benign media piece. Especially considering the usual fare.

The swimmer I think you are thinking of is Lynne Cox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cox

Also, regarding sharks, you don't have to out swim the shark, you just have to out swim your buddy. You could come down to Santa Cruz, our water is a degree or two warmer and we have lots of surfers to distract the sharks. Though, you're more likely to die on hwy 17 than get eaten by a shark :P