Transgender runner Glenique Frank finished in 6,159th place in the female category of the London Marathon on Sunday. For finishing the race, she received a finisher’s medal.
Frank faced criticism afterward because she finished ahead of nearly 14,000 women who presumably had their rankings lessened by one because of her.
Now, the runner is offering to return her finisher’s medal.
“If they want me to give my medal back, I’ll say, ‘OK, fine. No problem,’” the 54-year-old personal trainer told The NY Post. “If they really think I’ve stolen the place [of a female runner], I don’t mind giving the medal back, because I’ll run again next year for charity.”
Frank wanted to make it clear that she still didn’t feel as though she did anything wrong.
“But I don’t want to apologize, because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Frank added. “They’re angry because they’re saying that one of 14,000 women behind me could have had my place. Really? I did [the race in] 4 hours 11 minutes. There’s lots of women that beat me,” noted Frank, who came in 6,159th place in the female category.
“I get it … I’m not a woman, I don’t have a womb. But I didn’t compete as an elite, so I didn’t steal any money.”
Frank added that she was “just trying to spread joy and happiness with the rainbow love” when she chatted with a reporter during the race, saying that she was running on “girl power” and how she was soon “going to be a gran — Granny G!”
The controversy around Frank’s run stemmed from two-time Olympic marathon runner Mara Yamauchi, who tweeted that she thought it was unfair for the runner to be included in the female category.
“Males in the [female] category is UNFAIR for females,” Yamauchi tweeted. “Nearly 14,000 actual females suffered a worse finish position [because] of” Frank, wrote Yamauchi.
[NY Post]
