June 2nd, 2015
Watch the Wikipedia page for the 400 meter sprint over the coming days. The page was recently edited to add the following line about the world record time for women:
The current women’s world record is held by Marita Koch, with a time of 47.60 seconds. However Caitlyn Jenner is the fastest woman’s performer of all time, running a time of 47.51 in 1976 while competing under the name Bruce Jenner.
After this line was added, the page went through a flurry of revisions before the line was stricken and moved over to the Talk section, where the following comment now resides:
Caitlyn Jenner ran a 47.51 at the 1976 Olympics, a best of all time for women in the event. At the time, she went by the name Bruce. I feel it would be extremely transphobic to erase her identity and belittle her accomplishments by failing to mention this time. Although the IAAF has not, and likely will not, ratify Caitlyn’s time as a world record, it deserves mention here as an all-time woman’s best. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.235.91.193 (talk) 15:40, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
This is an obvious point of conflict. If Bruce Jenner was always a woman, even when he was a man, then wasn’t he competing in the wrong category at the Olympics? If not, why not? Should he be allowed to keep his medals? If so, why?
Some enterprising reporter ought to call up Glenn Kessler and some of the other “fact checkers” and ask them if it is true that Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner is–as a factual matter–a woman and, if she is, ask them to fact-check the date on which she became a woman.
Their answers would be deeply revealing.
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I can’t help but giggle, then I realize these people are serious.
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[…] is not a matter of light concern. There’s been a minor dust-up on Wikipedia about this. See, if you accept the idea that Caitlyn is a full woman, and that she has […]
Galley Friend L.B. June 3, 2015 at 9:15 am
The Post now has an item about this… the writer here seems to recognize the problem, but can’t bring himself to say: “This is absurd, he won the Olympic decathlon as a man, however he (sorry, “she”!) may think of himself (sorry, “herself”!) now.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/02/did-bruce-jenner-or-caitlyn-jenner-win-those-olympic-gold-medals-wikipedia-says-caitlyn/?tid=hpModule_9d3add6c-8a79-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e