A 17-year-old trans athlete had a message for the haters online after winning a track and field championship for the second year in a row.
Verónica Garcia won first in the class 2A 400-metre sprint at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, Washington on May 31.
While footage of the teen stretching before the race was posted online, a man could be seen wearing a ‘Save Women’s Sports’ shirt and heard tormenting her off camera.
Reports from the Seattle Times read that the man could be heard shouting ‘let’s go girls’ and ‘girl’s race’ in order to antagonize the athlete.
The teen edged first place by beating her rival, West Valley junior Lauren Matthew, by one second. Matthew was later spotted holding a sign that read “Washington State Track and Field Real Girls 2A 400m Champion.”
Garcia shared with the Times: “I’ll be honest, I kind of expect it,”,
“But it maybe didn’t have their intended effect. It made me angry, but not angry as in, I wanted to give up, but angry as in, I’m going to push.
“I’m going to put this in the most PG-13 way, I’m just going to say it’s a damn shame they don’t have anything else better to do. I hope they get a life. But oh well. It just shows who they are as people.”
“I’m really proud of myself. I did what I came to do, and that’s good enough for me.
“One of the things that Martin Luther King always pointed out is that you have to do what’s right. Even if there comes risk, you still have to do what’s right.”
While Matthew spoke to Spokesman-Review and shared: “I shouldn’t have to push myself to the point of where I’m about to, like, die in order to win.
“I know I’m gonna push myself to keep going, but I don’t want a man pushing me to have to go”, she added.