Transgender soccer star Quinn makes history with Olympic gold

Canadian soccer star Quinn became the first openly transgender athlete to win an Olympic medal following her team’s stunning loss to Sweden in the women’s final on Friday.

Canada’s 3-2 victory over Sweden on penalties marks the first time the Canadian women’s soccer team has won Olympic gold and the first women’s Olympic soccer final to be played on penalties, according to the FIFA.

Quinn was one of three transgender and / or non-binary athletes to compete at the Tokyo Games – along with New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard and American skateboarder Alana Smith – but Quinn will be the only one to walk away with a medal.

Canada entered the league game after beating the United States 1-0 on Monday, thanks to a penalty in the 75th minute of the game. The United States Women’s National Team captured bronze in a 4-3 victory over Australia.

“I am so proud of my team. They are my best friends. I’m so glad we brought home a better medal than bronze, ”said Quinn, who bears a name and uses gender-neutral pronouns, after their team’s victory over the United States in the semi-finals, according to Canadian media. CBC.

The Toronto native made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, where he helped the team win a bronze medal. They previously played for Duke University, then professionally for Washington Spirit, Paris FC and Seattle Reign FC, according to the Canadian Olympic Committee website.

Quinn appeared as transgender and non-binary in an Instagram post earlier this year and encouraged her followers to be better allies of trans people by putting their pronouns in their Instagram bio, following trans people like author Janet Mock and practicing neutral pronouns with friends or in the mirror.

“Getting out is DIFFICULT (and kinda bs),” they wrote in September. “I know that for me, this is something that I will do again for the rest of my life. As I have lived as an openly trans person with the people I love most for many years, I have always wondered when I would come out in public.

There are at least 182 LGBTQ athletes at the Olympics this year, according to the latest tally from LGBTQ Outsports sports website. At least 30 – including Quinn – had won medals by Friday.

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