South Carolina coach Dawn Staley claims transgender athletes ‘should be able to play’, admitting controversial stance will ‘be a distraction’ to her team ahead of March Madness final

Legendary South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has controversially claimed that transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.

A day after her women’s basketball team defeated NC State in the Final Four of March Madness en route to the national championship game against Iowa, Staley said anyone who considers themselves a woman should be free to play.

“I believe if you’re a woman, you should play,” Staley said.

‘If you consider yourself a woman and want to exercise, or vice versa, then you should be able to exercise.’

The 53-year-old, who has been in charge of South Carolina for 16 years, was fully aware that she would invite criticism and controversy by voicing her position.

In 2022, Lia Thomas became the only transgender athlete to win an NCAA national title

Staley and the Gamecocks will face the Iowa Hawkeyes in the national championship game

“So now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction for me on one of the biggest days of our game,” she said. ‘And I’m okay with that. I’m real.’

Hours later, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder declined to be drawn into the topic, insisting her focus was on Sunday’s final.

‘I understand that it is a subject that people are interested in. But today my focus is on tomorrow’s game and my players,” she said.

“It’s an important match we have tomorrow and I want to be there to talk about it. But I know it’s an important issue for another time.”

The rights of – and restrictions on – transgender athletes have become a controversial issue in recent years, permeating politics and even the legal system.

In January 2022, the NCAA changed its policy to allow the rules of each sport to be determined by a national governing body, an international federation – or the 2015 Olympic standard.

That change came around the same time that transgender athlete Lia Thomas began competing in women’s swimming, even winning a national championship at the University of Pennsylvania.

In basketball, the NCAA currently follows the 2015 Olympic guidelines regarding an allowable threshold for testosterone (less than 10 nanomoles per liter). There are currently no known transgender women competing in Division I basketball.