Transgender athlete Emily Bridges call British Cycling a "failed organisation" following new gender policy

Emily Bridges, who came out as a transgender woman in October 2020, has been at the centre of the debate after British Cycling suspended its previous policy amid the controversy sparked when she sought to race as a woman at the national omnium championships last year.

"British Cycling is a failed organisation, the racing scene is dying under your watch,” she wrote. "I don't even know if I want to race my bike any more, the danger and everything that would come with racing makes it a pretty hard thing to justify to myself."

"But you have no right on telling me when I am done. This is my decision and mine alone. Yeah, I might be speaking strongly at the moment, but this is my reality right now. It is literally a fight for survival for me and my family at the moment," she concludes.

The new policy creates a new 'open' category in which transgender women, transgender men, non-binary individuals and those whose sex was assigned male at birth will be eligible to compete, with the 'female' category reserved for those assigned female at birth and transgender men yet to begin hormone therapy.