BREAKING THE BINARY:
STORIES OF TRANS AND
NON-BINARY ATHLETES
TRANSFORMING
CANADIAN SPORT
VIRTUAL EXHIBITION
Presented by: Huy Mai
TOPIC OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
ATHLETE
SPOTLIGHTS
THEMES & ANALYSIS
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION TO
THE EXHIBITION
INTRODUCTION
Sport in Canada is often celebrated as an unifying force that
promotes meritocracy, teamwork, and national pride. Yet,
beneath the surface of this inclusive narrative lies a long history
of exclusion, gendered gatekeeping, and structural inequality.
"Breaking the Binary: Stories of Trans and Non-Binary Athletes
Transforming Canadian Sport" is a virtual, mixed-media
exhibition that tells the powerful and personal stories of three
trans and non-binary athletes, Quinn, Michelle Dumaresq, and
Veronica Ivy, whose lives and careers reveal the barriers,
battles, and breakthroughs that have reshaped Canadian sport
across generations. Through their voices and visibility, this
exhibition explores how personal struggles for acceptance and
fairness have contributed to broader social change, policy
reform, and shifting cultural norms.
INTRODUCTION
At its core, the exhibition is built around the "big idea" that
sport has never been neutral. It has always reflected and
reproduced dominant ideas about gender, power, and identity.
Trans and non-binary athletes challenge these ideas simply by
existing in spaces that weren’t built for them. Their inclusion
forces us to ask: Who gets to belong in sport? Who is
supported, and who is sidelined? By focusing on real-life stories
rather than abstract policy debates, this exhibit helps viewers
see that the question of gender inclusion is not theoretical; it is
lived.
INTRODUCTION
This exhibition is both historically and contemporarily relevant. It
tracks pivotal moments from the early 2000s to the present,
showing how each athlete’s experience intersects with larger
issues of gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy, as well as
race, national identity, and media representation. Michelle
Dumaresq, a trans woman downhill mountain biker, challenged
gender segregation in Canadian sports and sparked debates on
fairness long before today’s policies were written. Veronica Ivy,
a trans track cyclist and scholar, uses sport as a platform for
advocacy around trans rights and evidence-based inclusion.
And Quinn, a non-binary soccer player, made Olympic history in
2021—not only for their gold medal performance, but for
breaking through one of sport’s most visible stages as their
authentic self.
INTRODUCTION
Visitors will engage with a mixed-media experience, including
photographs, video footage, news headlines, tweets, and visual
art. Artifacts are both emotional and political: a screenshot of
Olympic coverage of Quinn; a still from Dumaresq’s
controversial finish line; a media clip from Ivy’s testimony to
sports organizations. Archival footage and modern social media
threads connect the past to the present.
This exhibition is not just about sports; it is about how bodies
are policed, how identities are erased or affirmed, and how acts
of playing, winning, and existing can become revolutionary.
Visitors are invited to move through these stories not only as
spectators but as participants in imagining a more inclusive
future. Whether you are a lifelong sports fan or someone
curious about gender justice, this exhibition offers new ways of
seeing what equity in sport can and should look like.
ATHLETE
SPOTLIGHTS
ARTIFACT 1: QUINN CELEBRATING
WITH CANADIAN TEAMMATE AT
TOKYO 2020
DESCRIPTION
A dynamic photograph from the
Guardian showing Quinn (right)
celebrating a goal with a teammate
during Canada’s 2020 Olympic
women’s soccer campaign (Niesen,
2021)
SIGNIFICANCE
This photograph captures a landmark moment: Quinn, midfielder for Team
Canada, celebrates with a teammate during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics,
becoming the first openly transgender and non-binary athlete to win an
Olympic medal. The significance of this artifact lies not only in the athletic
accomplishment but in the global visibility it brought to trans athletes in elite
sport. Historically, gendered sporting institutions have constructed rigid
divisions between male and female categories, often excluding those who
exist outside these binaries. Quinn’s presence in such a globally visible,
gendered space contests the normative assumptions about who belongs and
what it means to represent a nation. Drawing from Judith Butler’s theory of
gender performativity, Quinn’s celebration becomes a moment of resistance,
disrupting expectations that link gender to fixed biological characteristics. At
the same time, their presence provokes ongoing policy debates over eligibility,
fairness, and inclusion, exposing the contested nature of gender in sport. This
artifact communicates your exhibition’s “big idea”: that trans and non-binary
athletes do not merely exist within sports, they are actively transforming
them, shifting the conversation from gatekeeping to acceptance and visibility.
For trans youth watching, it sends a powerful message: you can belong,
compete, and win.
ARTIFACT 2: QUINN WITH OLYMPIC
GOLD MEDAL
DESCRIPTION
An image showing Quinn on the
podium proudly holding their gold
medal at Tokyo 2020 (Ravel, B., 2024)
SIGNIFICANCE
In this image, Quinn proudly holds their gold medal on the Olympic podium at
Tokyo 2020. The photograph reflects not just personal success, but
institutional acceptance. For the first time, the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) recognized a trans and non-binary athlete as a champion, an
act that reverberates throughout the global sporting community (Ravel, B.,
2024). This image deepens the exhibition’s exploration of what equity and
representation mean. The medal isn't just a reward; it’s symbolic capital, a
challenge to long-standing exclusionary practices in sport. As the IOC
grapples with new gender inclusion frameworks (Ravel, B., 2024), Quinn’s
presence makes policy personal. Theories of gender performativity help
explain this moment: their appearance redefines what it means to be a
“woman” or “man” in sport, highlighting how categories are socially
constructed, not biologically fixed (Butler, J., 1990). The artifact reminds
viewers that inclusion doesn’t only involve access to play, but also access to
win, to be seen, and to be celebrated.
ARTIFACT 3: QUINN BATTLING ON
THE FIELD
DESCRIPTION
A powerful in-game action photo of
Quinn facing a Swedish opponent
during the Olympic final Team
Canada Olympics
SIGNIFICANCE
This artifact features Quinn mid-action, competing in the Olympic final
against Sweden. It’s a moment that speaks to athletic excellence and physical
determination. Too often, trans athletes are discussed as political symbols,
but this photo restores focus to their athletic legitimacy. Quinn is not just
present, they are dominant, skilled, and key to Canada’s gold medal
performance (Team Canada, 2021). The visual emphasizes that inclusion in
sport must go beyond tokenism; it must allow athletes to fully participate and
compete. Course concepts such as hegemonic masculinity and sporting
normativity are useful here. Elite sport often functions as a space that
reinforces traditional gender roles (Connell, 2005), but athletes like Quinn
destabilize these norms by performing outside binary categories while still
excelling. This artifact helps balance the exhibition, reminding audiences that
fairness debates must not erase the labor, preparation, and skill that trans and
non-binary athletes bring to their sport.
ARTIFACT 4: MICHELLE DUMARESQ
RACING DOWNHILL
DESCRIPTION
Archival race photo of Michelle
Dumaresq competing in the
Canadian Downhill Championships
SIGNIFICANCE
This archival photograph of Michelle Dumaresq competing in downhill
mountain biking captures a foundational moment in Canadian trans sport
history. In the early 2000s, Dumaresq became the first openly trans woman to
compete in Canadian cycling, igniting national debate (The Canadian
Encyclopedia, 2023). The image is a key artifact in tracing the timeline of
trans visibility in sport, as her participation forced sporting bodies to confront
gaps in gender policy. The inclusion of Dumaresq marks the beginning of a
pattern of resistance—both from institutions and athletes—that frames your
exhibition’s historical arc. Scholars like Travers (2006) have analyzed how
Dumaresq’s case exposed the limitations of sport’s traditional gender logic.
Her presence revealed how sport often polices gender under the guise of
fairness. This artifact serves as a historical anchor: it demonstrates how
personal courage and visibility have been used to challenge exclusionary
systems long before broader policy reforms emerged.
ARTIFACT 5: DOCUMENTARY – 100% WOMAN
(2004).
DESCRIPTION
Documentary about Michelle
Dumaresq
SIGNIFICANCE
The 2004 documentary 100% Woman, directed by Karen Duthie,
follows Michelle Dumaresq’s groundbreaking but contentious journey
as the first openly transgender woman to compete in elite women’s
downhill mountain biking in Canada. Filmed over two years, it
captures not only her athletic achievements but also the protests and
hostility she endured, most infamously the “100% Pure Woman”
podium incident, in which a competitor’s boyfriend displayed a sign to
challenge her legitimacy as a female athlete. The footage provides an
unfiltered look at the intersection of gender identity, sport, and
societal prejudice.
This artifact situates Dumaresq’s story within a broader historical and
cultural moment when trans inclusion in sport was only beginning to
be debated in Canada. It highlights the policing of gender boundaries
in competitive athletics, resonating with West and Zimmerman’s
(1987) concept of “doing gender,” where identity is constantly
scrutinized and socially enforced. The documentary also underscores
how trans athletes are often framed through a lens of controversy
rather than accomplishment, revealing the persistence of transphobia
in sporting cultures. In the context of Breaking the Binary, this footage
exemplifies both the courage required to challenge institutional norms
and the role of media in shaping public perceptions of gender
diversity in sport.
ARTIFACT 6: VERONICA IVY WON
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
DESCRIPTION
Veronica Ivy World Championship
Photo Description: Photograph of
Veronica Ivy after winning the UCI
Masters Track World Championship
in 2018
SIGNIFICANCE
This artifact shows Veronica Ivy celebrating her win at the UCI Masters Track
Cycling World Championship in 2018. Ivy was the first trans woman to win
this title, sparking international debate. Her win was groundbreaking, but it
also became a lightning rod for media controversy. Ivy used this moment not
only to claim victory but to advocate for trans inclusion. She framed her
success within a broader struggle for rights and recognition, making her both
an athlete and a public intellectual. Her story embodies your exhibition’s focus
on sport as a political platform. She reframes the debate around a clear ethical
premise: If trans women are women, then there is no moral or legal basis to
exclude them, especially in light of the International Olympic Committee's
principle that sport is a universal human right. This aligns directly with the
exhibition’s big idea, spotlighting how institutional norms are challenged by
justice-based reasoning.
Ivy’s argument integrates key course concepts like gender performativity,
demonstrating that gender is not biologically fixed but socially enacted and
recognized, and the principle of default inclusion rooted in human rights
frameworks. She shifts the burden of proof onto those arguing for exclusion,
underscoring that fairness requires considering both rights and evidence
rather than relying on conservative assumptions. The piece enriches the
exhibition by linking personal, academic, and athletic perspectives, illustrating
how trans athletes not only compete. They also contribute to the ethical and
legal understandings of fairness in sport.
ARTIFACT 7: TRANS WOMEN ARE
WOMEN, AND SPORT IS A HUMAN
RIGHT” BY VERONICA IVY
DESCRIPTION
Veronica Ivy’s peer-reviewed article
titled “Trans Women Are Women,
and Sport Is a Human Right”
(Journal of Olympic Studies, 2023).
SIGNIFICANCE
In her powerful essay, Veronica Ivy confronts the commonly framed
complexity around including trans women and intersex women in
sports with a concise and uncompromising premise: “Are trans
women women?” If the answer is yes, then their inclusion in women’s
sport is not optional; it's an ethical and human rights imperative (Ivy,
2023). Drawing on the Olympic Charter’s assertion that participation
in sport is a fundamental human right, she shifts the burden of proof
to those advocating for exclusion, arguing such efforts often rely on
unfounded scientific claims or rooted prejudice.
This artifact is central to Breaking the Binary. Its theoretical clarity
embodies the exhibition’s big idea: trans and non-binary athletes
don’t just compete, they demand we rethink how equity, identity, and
legitimacy are constructed in sport. Ivy’s argument draws from rightsbased frameworks, challenging audiences to go beyond sensational
debates and ground fairness in justice, evidence, and respect. It also
integrates course concepts like gender performativity and institutional
bias, emphasizing how identity is both lived and regulated. In practical
terms, including this article provides a critical bridge between athlete
visibility and policy change, and positions fans and policymakers alike
to reconsider norms not with skepticism, but with responsibility.
THEMES AND
ANALYSIS
The exhibition Breaking the Binary: Stories of Trans and Non-Binary Athletes Transforming Canadian
Sport explores the intersections of identity, performance, and policy in sport through the lived
experiences of Quinn, Michelle Dumaresq, and Veronica Ivy. At its core, the exhibition examines how
trans and non-binary athletes challenge entrenched binaries in athletic competition, dismantling
outdated notions of gender and fairness while advocating for inclusion as a human right. Three key
themes emerge: visibility, highlighting the power of representation in inspiring future generations;
resistance, capturing athletes’ defiance against discriminatory regulations and public scrutiny; and
transformation, showing how sport itself evolves when its structures embrace diversity. Each artifact is
situated within broader social, historical, and political contexts, ranging from the International Olympic
Committee’s shifting eligibility rules to the media’s framing of trans athletic achievements. Drawing on
Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, the exhibition underscores that gender in sport is not a
fixed biological truth but an ongoing, socially constructed performance shaped by institutional rules and
cultural expectations. Similarly, Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality is used to reveal how
trans athletes’ experiences are also influenced by nationality, race, sexuality, and class. By weaving
together personal narratives, media portrayals, and policy debates, Breaking the Binary invites viewers to
reconsider not only who gets to compete but how we define fairness, belonging, and excellence in
Canadian sport.
CONCLUSION
Breaking the Binary reveals the ongoing struggle and
triumph of trans and non-binary athletes within Canadian
sport, a realm historically defined by rigid gender binaries
and exclusionary practices. Through the stories of Quinn,
Michelle Dumaresq, and Veronica Ivy, this exhibition
highlights the courage it takes to claim space, challenge
norms, and reshape the very meaning of fairness and
inclusion. While significant progress has been made,
persistent barriers remind us that the fight for equity is far
from over. By amplifying these voices and experiences, the
exhibition not only honors athletic excellence but also calls
on audiences, policymakers, and sporting institutions to
continue evolving towards a truly inclusive future where all
athletes can compete authentically and without prejudice.
Breaking the Binary thus serves as both a tribute and a
rallying cry for a Canadian sports culture that embraces
diversity in all its forms.
REFERENCES
Niesen, J. (2021, August 4). Quinn: the Olympics’ first out trans medalist aims for gold with
Canada. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/04/quinn-theolympics-first-out-trans-medalist-aims-for-gold-with-canada
Ravel, B. (2024). “Quinn, Who Goes by One Name”: Examining the Media Coverage of the
First Openly Trans Nonbinary Athlete to Win an Olympic Medal. Sociology of Sport Journal,
41(4), 406-412.
Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble. Routledge.
Team Canada. (2021). Quinn. https://olympic.ca/team-canada/quinn/
Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities (2nd ed.). University of California Press.
Duthie, K. (2004). 100% Woman | Documentary. IMDb.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1097207/
Ivy, V. (2023). Trans Women Are Women, and Sport Is a Human Right. Journal of Olympic
Studies, 4(2), 3-19.
Cho, S., Crenshaw, K. W., & McCall, L. (2013). Toward a field of intersectionality studies:
Theory, applications, and praxis. Signs: Journal of women in culture and society, 38(4), 785810.
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