Tuesday 7 June 2022 09:43 PM Emily Bridges received threats of violence after PM made comments about trans ... trends now
A transgender cyclist who won gold in an 'inclusive' race has revealed she received threats of 'physical violence' after Boris Johnson said 'biological males shouldn't compete in women's sports' events.
Emily Bridges claimed she suffered threats 'from strangers online' after the Prime Minister made his 'controversial' comments back in April and has blasted him for 'not knowing anything' about the issue.
The 21-year-old Welsh athlete made headlines in March when her attempts to compete against Olympic hero Dame Laura Kenny at the British National Omnium Championships in the women's category were thwarted at the 11th hour by world governing body UCI.
It sparked a debate which spread further than just the sport, with the Prime Minister weighing in when he stated: 'I don't think biological males should be competing in female sporting events' at a time when Bridges was already receiving plenty of criticism on social media and from fellow competitors.
She recently won gold in the ThunderCrit race at Herne Hill velodrome in South-East London last Friday in an independent race aimed to be inclusive for trans and non-binary people.
British Cycling has since suspended its trans policy in the wake of the row, blocking athletes from switching their racing licence from male to female until they had reviewed their rules.
Bridges told ITV News: 'It's really strange to see, probably the most famous man in Britain, talking about you and having an opinion on something he doesn't know anything about.
Emily Bridges suffered threats of 'physical violence' after the Prime Minister made his 'controversial' comments back in April.
Emily Bridges won the race, followed by Lilly Chant and Jo Smith in third - but the photo has sparked backlash amongst gender critics on social media
'The response after that was as expected. I had threats of physical violence made against me, and by complete strangers online, and I'm scared a lot of the time about being who I am in public.
'People are always going to have an opinion about it. They're entitled to hold an opinion about it - but there's a way to go about voicing that opinion and threatening to kneecap me is not that way.'
Bridges, who was on British Cycling's senior
