sport news British Olympic icon Sharron Davies admits she is compelled to speak out about ... trends now

sport news British Olympic icon Sharron Davies admits she is compelled to speak out about ... trends now
sport news British Olympic icon Sharron Davies admits she is compelled to speak out about ... trends now

sport news British Olympic icon Sharron Davies admits she is compelled to speak out about ... trends now

As yet, he gold medal from Moscow shows no sign of dropping through the letterbox. A silver medallist in the Olympic Games of 1980, Sharron Davies was beaten to the punch in the 400 metres individual medley by East Germany's Petra Schneider, who later admitted doping as part of a systemic programme of state- sponsored cheating.

Swimming for England in the 1978 Commonwealth Games at the age of 15, Davies won two gold medals.

In her second Olympic games, in Russia, she lost by ten seconds to a swimmer whose world record time was so formidable — or suspicious, depending on your point of view — that it stood for 17 years.

Sharron Davies was denied Olympic Games swimming gold in 1980 by a rival who had doped

Sharron Davies was denied Olympic Games swimming gold in 1980 by a rival who had doped

Davies claims her father, Terry, was punished because he refused to be silenced about doping

Davies claims her father, Terry, was punished because he refused to be silenced about doping

Her father, Terry, is now 86 and continues to coach at Hemel Hempstead three or four times a week. When he shattered the omerta surrounding the East German swimming scandal, he paid the price when he was left out of Great Britain's coaching team for the Olympics where his own daughter almost won gold.

Subject to the current deliberations of FINA, the international swimming federation, she still might.

'When I competed in Moscow, I was the only female individual medallist in the whole of the British team,' Davies tells Sportsmail. 'And yet my dad — who had four other Olympic medallists — was not picked as a coach.

'It was so unfair because all he ever did was speak out against drug cheats. So I just think now, 'Well I can't not speak out...'

Now the legendary athlete, 59, feels that she must not be shy to speak out about tricky issues

Now the legendary athlete, 59, feels that she must not be shy to speak out about tricky issues

The 59-year-old Plymouth-born mother of three is now a grandmother, a Member of the British Empire and an articulate, authoritative presence on the nation's television screens during major sporting events. Most recently, her voice has been heard as a brave and persistent advocate of fairness for biological women in sport.

When trans swimmer Lia Thomas won the NCAA 500-yard freestyle in Atlanta earlier this year, there were threats and accusations of 'lazy transphobia' after Davies challenged the safety and integrity of biological males competing in women's categories. She felt like history was repeating itself.

Between 1975 and 1985, she missed out on a string of medals when swimming rivals were encouraged to take male sex hormone drugs by the East German Swimming Federation, thousands going on to suffer organ damage or psychological trauma as a consequence.

Schneider, who won the gold in Moscow, sustained liver and heart problems, while Rica Reinisch, another gold-medal winner, stated publicly that she was given steroids at the age 12 and now suffers from ovarian cysts. 

Davies missed out when some of her swimming rivals were encouraged to take male hormones

Davies missed out when some of her swimming rivals were encouraged to take male hormones

While East German doping is obviously no more, there are parallels with transgender athletes taking hormone-suppression medication in a quest to win medals in women's categories. And despite the criticism, Davies is one of the few prepared to say in public what others will only say in private.

'Some of this in me comes from the fact that my dad was so ostracised,' she adds.

'Most of the medals I lost were lost to an East German. In the Olympics, in 1980 the East Germans won 90 per cent of the women's swimming medals. In many events they took first, second and third. In contrast, they won less than five per cent of the men's medals.

'That's why I speak out now about fairness issues. Sport is a reflection of society and in society you have not very nice people who try to cheat.

Davies has been part of the debate around transgender US college swimming star Lia Thomas

Davies has been part of the debate around transgender US college swimming star Lia Thomas

'The East German bloc was a state-sponsored doping programme that we knew was going on.

'You could tell. They had athletes that no one had ever seen before that came on to the scene who looked and sounded like men.

'And we knew it wasn't them as individuals doing it. It was the state programme.

'The IOC did absolutely nothing for nearly 20 years and there were East German athletes who died from the drugs they were given that the IOC could have saved.

People are reluctant to state their views about Thomas for fear of retribution, Thomas believes

People are reluctant to state their views about Thomas for fear of retribution, Thomas believes

'Instead, anyone who talked about it publicly — like my dad — was blacklisted and never got selected as a GB coach.'

When it comes to transgender issues, there's a natural reluctance to become the next JK Rowling.

While awareness is growing, the number of people willing to speak out is shrinking fast. Women with jobs and families fret over the fairness and physical strength of transgender athletes competing against their daughters, but know that putting their heads above the parapet could see them branded a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) or

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