We ran the first part of Leigh Hargrove's article, Michelle Dumaresq: An interview with the National Freakin’ DH Champion! about a week ago and it caused quite a stir. In fact, the thread it generated on the boards is the second most viewed after the all-powerful Sacred Shed Thread II.
Part 2 of Leigh's article tackles a number of tough issues and hopefully dispells some of the myths that seem to be going around. It also provides real insight into someone who enjoys riding their bike just as much as the next person on the trail. - Ed.
Words by Leigh Hargrove
Photos by Cam McRae
Leigh Hargrove: Do you think you have an advantage [over other competitors], given your circumstance?
Michelle Dumaresq: Do I have an advantage? Who has an advantage? You could talk for hours about what an advantage is. And people do all the time. I will defend myself until I can't talk anymore that I don't have an advantage. If I did, I wouldn't race. I would quit. I believe in fair play. My fundamental values are that way.
I've competed in sports since I was a kid. My first memories are about fair play. It's not important who wins or loses; it's all about playing the game. I wish that stuck around, instead of the winning. But it's [about] fair play. If I thought I had an advantage, I would quit...
If anything, I have an advantage because as a young child I was given the opportunity to be in any sport that I chose. And I chose bicycles. So when I was seven years, my parents bought me a bicycle, and when I was eleven years old, my parents bought me a BMX.
So I have the advantage of having parents that never said no to sporting equipment... I had parents that supported their kids in sport, no matter what sport they wanted to be in. If I wanted to be a ballet dancer, they would have supported me. It didn't matter what sport I wanted to do, they supported me. That's my advantage.
Michelle ripping it up at the World Cup at Grouse
Photo: Cam McRae
Leigh: You're basically lived half your life as a woman. Perhaps not officially, but there were several years of preparation before your operation. You took hormone therapy for about five years.
Michelle: I was going out to bars at 15, as a girl. With a lesbian crowd that only knew me as a girl, not as a boy. I started hormone therapy at around 22.
Leigh: Did your psyche as a young boy affect your attitude towards sports?
Michelle: There's no question. [But] as much as I can, I try to remove gender from it - I can't exactly say to people that I was a young boy. I can't honestly say that to people, because I was a young trans-gendered boy. So, yeah, I was a boy, physically, I had testosterone in my system, I can never deny that, but I've known I was a girl since I was five years old. I've always known. How realistic is it for me to say that I had the average upbringing of every other boy in my neighbourhood? Because I didn't.
I, as a young child, was an adventurous spirit. I was always exploring, I was always interested in what was around me, I was always trying to be better, faster, taller, and so competition is in my blood. I was always competing in something, whether it's driving to the store or riding bikes down a hill.
It's in my blood. That's not a boy thing or a girl thing, that's a competitive person thing. I am a highly competitive person. I'll do whatever it takes to win, within reason, within the boundaries of what's allowed. If it requires me to train, if it requires me to have certain equipment, if it requires me to take risks in order to win, that's what I'm compelled to win, because I want to win badly. That's what makes me a good racer.
Leigh: What do you see in the future for trans-gendered athletes?
Michelle: I will fight tooth and nail to stop anyone from starting a trans-gendered category. Our society doesn't recognize a third gender, so why should we have a third gender in mountain biking? We have male/female on our driver's license; we don't have a T for trans. You need to either make a decision - either I'm male or female. Make the decision, and I'll decide what to do with that decision.
Fortunately for me, the CCA [Canadian Cycling Association] decided to respect that my birth certificate says I'm female. But I'll do everything to protect the fact that we have a binary gender system right now. I don't necessarily agree with it. I'm not arguing for or against the binary gender system, I'm arguing this is what we have currently. Our society has picked the two-gendered system and I'm going to subscribe to that, as long as everyone else is. That's a big thing for me.
Leigh: Why do you love cycling so much? What is it for you?
Michelle: I would probably hurt people if I didn't ride my bike! Riding my bike is my release. [It's] when I can shut my brain off and react strictly by instinct. I don't think when I'm on my bike. I don't think about bills, problems with the government, or my mortgage, or anything. When I ride it's time to shut my brain off and just be one with my bike. Cycling, at this point of my life, is an extension of me.
My bike does what I want it to do. I go down a trail, and I think my way down a trail. I go, "Bike, I want you to do this, bike I want you do to that." And it does it. I have so much control over that machine right now that when I go down a trail, I get people who want to ride behind me and see the lines I pick. I don't pick them, they sort of just appear.
Michelle flying the nsmb colours on Fromme
Photo: Cam McRae
Leigh: Is there one question that you haven't been asked, that you wish you had been?
Michelle: The thing with being trans is that people don't have the same taboos as they do with other minorities. Somehow people think that with trans people, you can go open season on the personal aspects of their life.
So I've been asked just about everything. I've certainly had to tell people [they've gone too far] and right away they know they have. Usually the interviewers ask what kind of questions can they ask. And I say, you can ask whatever you want, but if you've gone to far, I just won't answer. Some people ask, "How do you have sex?" and my answer is a blank stare.
Leigh: Is there anything else you'd like to say that you haven't yet?
Michelle: I want people to stop pretending to be instant experts. I want people to think about what they're writing about me on bulletin boards. Stop and think. Because people write some really ignorant things. I mean, no one would ever change their gender just to win. You can't ever go back. There is no, "I'll just do this for a few years."
There's another one that people write all the time - like, what if Michelle stops taking estrogen, she'll certainly have all this testosterone again. No. I'm sorry. After surgery, no testosterone. Gone. [It] cannot happen.
Unlike last season, it seems that the uniqueness of Michelle's situation has faded away. Michelle was issued a race license by the CCA in the spring of 2002, which was immediately protested by a large group of riders. A petition was circulated to ban Michelle from racing with the women, and to create a third category for her to race in.
When Michelle won the women's 2002 Canada Cup DH series, she was awarded a position on the national team for Worlds. That didn't make the racers particularly happy, and the petition went straight to the UCI (Union Cycliste International). The UCI reviewed the petition just days before Michelle was to leave for the 2002 World Championships last August, and after doing so formally announced that Michelle would be allowed to participate as a woman.
Enrico Carpani, the UCI's Press Officer, had very little to say about the matter: "The UCI has taken note of the final decision of the Canadian Cycling Federation, which announced that Michelle Dumaresq is a woman (from legal and medical point of view). So, she is allowed to participate at the race in Kaprun."
There are a number of facts that support both the CCA and UCI's decision. Michelle had surgery to become a woman eight years ago, although she began hormone therapy at the age of 22. The operation completely removed testosterone from her system, and she no longer has the ability to produce it.
The side effects of the procedure have been numerous. Besides a loss in muscle mass, Dumaresq has dealt with physical changes, including height fluctuation (indicating internal physiological changes), as well as a diminished supply of testosterone. Her psyche has been affected as well. Most notable for Michelle as a mountain biker has been her ability to process risk, which is more analytical now as a female than it was as a man.
In spite of (or perhaps because of) all that, Michelle Dumaresq is on top of her game. She's focused, determined, and well-spoken, not to mention she has a welcoming attitude and pleasant demeanour.
Michelle left on August 31 to compete at the World Championships alongside the Canadian National Team, and has had some solid results since she's been there. Last week, Michelle qualified in 18th place on her first run and was 17th at Worlds in the finals. She had plans to stay in Europe this week to compete in the final World Cup in Kaprun, Austria on September 12 and 13, where she is sitting in 19th place overall.
