Transgender cyclist Emily Bridges feels comments made by prime minister Boris Johnson over whether she should race women prompted a wave of violent threats. The 21-year-old Welsh athlete made headlines in March when her attempts to race at the British National Omnium Championships in the women's category were stopped last minute by world governing body UCI.
It sparked a debate which spread further than just the sport, with the Prime Minister weighing in when he stated: "I don't think biological males should be competing in female sporting events" at a time when Bridges was already receiving plenty of criticism on social media and from fellow competitors. Since then Emily says she has been placed in the middle of a divisive topic and says she has been in the firing line of abuse, including being purposefully misgendered online.
"It's really strange to see probably the most famous man in Britain talking about you and having an opinion on something that he doesn't know anything about," Emily told ITV. "The response after that was as expected, I had threats of physical violence made against me by complete strangers online. People are entitled to hold an opinion about it, but there's a way to go about voicing that opinion - and threatening to kneecap me is not that way.
