Sharron Davies says that the sportswear brand is showing ‘disdain’ for women

Sharron Davies, the former British Olympic swimmer and vocal critic of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, has called for a boycott of sports apparel giant Nike following its partnership with transgender TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney.

“Nobody really seems to be listening to the general public,” Davies said on Thursday to GB News. “And that’s what seems to be incredibly frustrating. So, the only way we can actually make these companies and make governments listen is to boycott with our wallets.”

Transgender social media personality Mulvaney – who has also partnered with Bud Light – was featured in Instagram images modelling Nike’s range of sports bras this week, clothing which Davies says “doesn’t apply” to Mulvaney, who has not yet had gender-reassignment surgery.

“It’s just this total disdain with which women are being treated at the moment,” Davies added, “Particularly in the world of sport where physiology makes so much difference.”

Mulvaney has so far not yet commented on the controversy. Anheuser-Busch, which owns Bud Light, said through a spokesperson that the brand “works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of the many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”

IOC amends transgender guidelines

Transgender participation in sports has become a fiercely-debated issue amid a wave of legislative proposals in Republican-led states in the US which have sought to impose various restrictions on trans athletes’ abilities to participate in female sports.

Schools and colleges in the US, though, would be disallowed from imposing blanket bans on transgender athletes as part of a provision to existing gender-equity legislation proposed this week by the Biden administration.

Another former Olympic athlete, Caitlyn Jenner, who is transgender, has also joined in the chorus of backlash against Nike, whom she described as “woke” and said that “inclusivity” should not come at the expense of the majority of people.

Like Davies, Jenner has been a noted critic of transgender athletes competing in sports against biologically-born women. Jenner did note, however, that she has no issue with Mulvaney pursuing sponsorship deals, as she has done herself in the past.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP presidential candidate noted for his opposition to so-called ‘wokeism,’ has also expressed his opposition to Nike’s deal with Mulvaney, calling it the “worst kind of woke capitalism.”

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The International Olympic Committee has defended plans to include Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Paris 2024 Games

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) must not act as a “political referee,” according to its president, Thomas Bach. The organization has faced a backlash for its plans to reinstate Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competition ahead of the Paris Games in 2024.

Speaking at the Ruhr Political Festival in Essen, Germany on Wednesday, Bach said that the IOC must stay out of political disputes to preserve its power as a unifying force on the international stage.

“If politics decides who can take part in a competition, then sport and athletes become tools of politics,” Bach stated. “It is then impossible for sport to transfer its uniting power.”

However, he added that the IOC must be “politically neutral but not apolitical.”

The IOC imposed sporting sanctions against Russia and Belarus shortly after Moscow launched its military campaign in Ukraine last year. The measures were subsequently adopted by numerous other sporting federations across the globe, and severely restricted the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions.

UK asks Olympic sponsors to ‘pressure’ IOC – media

Despite Bach stating earlier this year that he believes sanctions should continue against the governments of both Russia and Belarus, he has appeared open to allowing athletes from both countries back to Olympic competition under certain criteria, such as participating under a neutral flag and appearing in Asian-based qualification events ahead of the Paris Games next year.

Bach claimed on Wednesday that the current situation presents his organization with a “dilemma,” noting that Ukraine has demanded “the total isolation of all Russians” from global sport. He further stated that the IOC has a responsibility towards “human rights and the Olympic Charter” – and not towards the “total isolation of people with a specific passport.”

Elsewhere, Bach has faced resistance from the likes of the British government, amid reports earlier this month that it had petitioned major Olympics sponsors to pressure the IOC to maintain its hardline stance against Russia and Belarus.

Bach’s latest comments came as “several dozen” people held a protest outside Essen’s Philharmonic Music Hall, some of whom were Ukrainian refugees, according to Reuters. Ukraine has threatened to boycott the Paris Olympics if a complete ban on Russia and Belarus is not upheld.

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International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has criticized Ukraine’s calls to boycott the Paris 2024 Games if Russian athletes are allowed to take part. The role of the Olympics is to unify, not escalate and contribute to confrontation, he said.

“It’s not up to governments to decide who can take part in which sports competitions because this would be the end of international sport competitions… as we know it,” Bach told journalists on Sunday.

In late January, the IOC said it may allow athletes from Russia and Belarus who do not publicly support Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics under a neutral flag.

The announcement angered Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who called on countries to boycott the Games if this happens. Speaking on Friday, Zelensky said the presence of Russian athletes would be a “manifestation of violence” that “cannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality or a white flag.”

In comments cited by France 24, Bach stated that “history will show who is doing more for peace, the ones who try to keep lines open and communicate or the ones who want to isolate and divide.”

Our role is bringing people together.

Ukraine’s calls for a boycott of the Summer Olympics go against the “principles we stand for,” he said.

IOC president blasts Ukraine – media

Bach added that these calls are premature, saying: “we are talking about the sporting competitions to take place this year. There is no talk about Paris yet, this will come much later.”

In deciding the fate of Russian and Belarusian athletes, the IOC must address the “serious concerns” of the UN Human Rights Council that banning them “only because of their passports is a violation of their rights,” he explained.

“We have seen a Belarusian player under neutral status winning the Australian Open. So why shouldn’t it be possible in a swimming pool for instance, or in gymnastics?” the IOC chief said. He was referring to the success of tennis star Aryna Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open in Melbourne last month.

Bach added, however, that Ukrainian athletes should “know how much we share their grief, their human suffering and all the effort we’re taking to help them” as a result of the conflict.

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