VICTOR JOECKS: Biden’s a hypocrite on women’s sports

Last week, the Las Vegas Aces went to the White House to celebrate their second WNBA championship. Unlike during last year’s visit, Biden was there to meet and celebrate with the team.

“It matters to girls and women, finally seeing themselves represented, and it matters to all of America,” he said. “That’s why, as a nation, we need to support women’s sports.”

If only he took his own advice.

Implicit in that statement is a recognition that there’s a difference between male and female sports. And there is.

At elite levels, men are bigger, faster and stronger than women. For instance, Christian Miller, a high school student from Florida, ran a 9.93-second 100-meter dash earlier this year. The fastest time for a female athlete was Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49-second mark in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials. In sports such as basketball and soccer, those athletic advantages multiply, giving males an even larger edge.

This used to be blindingly obvious. It’s why Title IX, which Congress passed in 1972, eventually transformed women’s athletics. That provision and subsequent regulatory moves required schools to provide equal athletic opportunities for men and women. This led to the creation and growth of women’s sports.

But Biden is undercutting those opportunities. Last month, the Biden administration issued new rules for Title IX, redefining sex as gender identity. If not overturned by the courts or the Trump administration, this will have a host of negative consequences in K-12 schools and higher education. One of the most obvious is that biological men who claim to be women will be allowed to compete in women’s sports and to use their locker rooms.

This would allow mediocre male athletes to win women’s competitions. It’s already happening. Last week in Oregon, a boy pretending to be a girl took first place in the 200-meter and 400-meter races during the Portland Scholastic League Championship. If the sophomore had run in the boys’ races, it’s unlikely he would have reached the finals.

That isn’t just, and everyone knows it.

Biden’s move won’t only keep girls and women off the podium. Consider Linnea Saltz, who ran track at Southern Utah University and Georgetown. She’s now managing Drew Johnson’s congressional bid. “I was able to get two of my degrees paid for because of all the time and effort I put into my sport,” Saltz said.

But even as a champion in the 800 meters, she knew she couldn’t beat a mediocre male runner who joined the University of Montana’s track team. He didn’t end up running in the 800, but she and her teammates raced against him in a 2020 medley relay. “It was a very defeating feeling,” she said about racing against someone with “a biological advantage over us.”

If Biden gets his way, it’s a feeling many more female athletes will experience. The best way to “support women’s sports” is to keep them free of mediocre male athletes.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.