Team Canada's Quinn Is The First Openly Trans Athlete To Compete At The Olympics
This historic moment has been 125 years in the making.
Twenty-five-year-old Quinn, a Team Canada soccer player at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, is making history as the first openly transgender Olympian to compete in the modern Games' 125-year history.
Quinn, who uses they/them pronouns and goes by a single name, reflected on their historic presence at the Tokyo Summer Games in an Instagram post on July 22, after a match on July 21 against Japan ended in a 1-1 draw.
"I feel proud seeing 'Quinn' up on the lineup and on my accreditation," they wrote. "I feel sad knowing there were Olympians before me unable to live their truth because of the world."
The midfielder, who was born and raised in a Toronto "sports family," came out as transgender in 2020 through Instagram, raising awareness on how to be better allies to transgender people.
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is another openly transgender athlete at the Tokyo 2020 Games. But women's +87 kilogram weightlifting is scheduled for August 2, while Quinn has already played one game, with another against Chile on July 24.
