Play all audios:
Two Oregon high school athletes refused to share the podium with a transgender competitor at the state’s track and field championships, footage shows. The female students — Tigard High
School’s Alexa Anderson and Sherwood High School’s Reese Eckard — stepped down from the high jump podium as the winners of the competition were being announced across the Eugene stadium
Saturday night. Anderson and Eckard had finished in third and fourth place, while Ida B. Wells High School’s trans student Lia Rose tied for fifth. Rose had competed in boys’ track and field
divisions as recently as 2024 and 2023, according to Fox News. Crowds were cheering for the athletes throughout the ceremony, and it remains unclear how the audience reacted to the protest.
EXPLORE MORE A race official showed up shortly after Anderson and Eckard stepped down and ushered them away as they stood with their backs to the podium. It remains unclear if their
standing at the competition was affected by the move. But the incident quickly gained attention online, especially after women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines — who is staunchly opposed to
transgender athletes competing in women’s sports — posted footage from it on X. “Watch this. Two female athletes in Oregon refused to stand on the podium because a boy was awarded a place,”
Gaines wrote. “Girls have had enough,” she added. The video was also picked up by other accounts — including “Libs of TikTok” — which praised the athletes’ act of defiance. It was just the
latest incident in which women athletes have protested against transgender competitors in their division. In April, women’s fencer Stephanie Turner took a knee rather than competing with a
trans person during a Maryland match, and was put on a year-long probation by USA Fencing for the move. And in May, 16-year-old high schooler Reese Hogan finished second to a trans athlete
in California’s CIF Southern Section Finals triple jump competition — but stepped up to the first-place spot on the podium after her competitor stepped down.