Brazilian volleyball player Tiffany Abreu has won numerous medals and trophies competing as a man, but now he’s decided he wants to compete as a female.
Abreu played in men’s leagues in Brazil, Portugal, France, and other countries for many years, winning a myriad of awards and excelling in the sport as a male. However, Abreu decided in 2012 that he wanted to become a woman and began transitioning shortly thereafter, according to Sports Illustrated.
Following his transition, Abreu got authorization from the International Volleyball Federation in 2017 to play in the women’s league, and recently signed a contract with female Brazilian volleyball team Volei Bauru.
“I took every needed step after my agent said I could play women’s volleyball,” Abreu said. “I am obeying the rules, it is not as if I could just say I am a transsexual athlete and want to play.” He is the first transgender athlete to compete in Brazil’s top women’s volleyball tournament.
However, many fans and athletes do not look kindly upon his signing to a women’s team. “It is not a matter of prejudice, it’s physiology. Most players don’t think it’s fair for transsexuals to play against women. And it’s not. [Abreu’s] body was built with testosterone all life long,” four time Olympic volleyball competitor, Ana Paula Henkel, tweeted.
Transgender athletes “have the right to be happy, too” Abreu told Sports Illustrated, explaining that he had competed as a female in Italy following his transition but that the notable criticism he received from fans and other players spurred his decision to return to Brazil to compete.
Abreu’s coach, who hopes that he will help take the team to Olympic caliber, maintains that his competing is not unfair to other female teams and athletes. “I met her much before when she played with the men,” said Volei Bauru coach Fernando Bonatto. “She was much stronger then. Her power has gone down a lot because of her transition.”
Abreu’s competing comes after biological male transgender Laurel Hubbard won two silvers in the women’s World Weightlifting Championships in early December, according to Reuters. Hubbard competed as a woman at the World Masters Games in New Zealand in April, and also became the first transgender to represent New Zealand in a weightlifting competition at the 2017 Australasian Championships in March, where he won gold. (RELATED: Transgender Weightlifter Scores Medals At World Championships).
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