WEBVTT

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Two lanes,
separated from each other

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by a clear line.

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One gender,
separated from the other

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by the amount of fame.

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We are put into categories
that have never been fitting.

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Has this ever been about fair play?

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“Female athletes act
against the law of nature”

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said Pierre de Coubertin,
founder of the Modern Olympic Games.

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That is why for decades
no woman was permitted

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to run on this holy ground.

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Welcome to the birthplace of sports,

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the Olympic stadium of Athens.

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Built exclusively
to create male heroes.

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It says: “History
is written by the victors.”

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But where does that leave those

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who were never supposed
to be part of the game?

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Dearest audience,
do you still believe in the heroes’ tales

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told by the victors?

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Do you still enter their monuments
with devotion?

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An arena built of
solid stone for eternity.

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But this foundation
will soon begin to crumble,

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the apparently impenetrable walls
will reveal themselves to have been a delusion.

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“The most important thing in the Olympic Games...”

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“The goal of the Olympic Games is

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to place sport at the service of the
harmonious development of humankind,

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concerned with the preservation
of human dignity.”

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The ideals appear noble,

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but in the end, the winner is the one
who fights the others.

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These tales of victory are preserved

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in the places they are told.

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By entering these places,
we’re standing on all the history

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that has been written there ever since.

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We’ve traveled back in time

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to attend this historic competition.

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We\'re going to watch very closely
to show you

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what happened here on this track.

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Hey, your legs are all crooked.

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Don’t say that, my whole
personality is based on that.

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With our divergent, ambiguous bodies,

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we decompose the persistent
attachment to the unambiguous.

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With our bodily fluids
trickling into all cracks,

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we contaminate the supposedly natural,
which has never existed.

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In order to still cry on point
for the award ceremony,

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from now on we drip
artificial tears onto our cheeks.

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But these dusty marching anthems
have not been touching us for a very long time.

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But for now it’s time to run,
it’s time to run.

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Stella Walsh, representing Poland,

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wins by half a yard.

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Equaling her own
worlds record of 11.9 seconds.

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The leading sports writers
of the country have said

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that she runs nearly,
more nearly like a man

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than any other woman
they have ever seen.

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I\'m very happy

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to have won this final
for my homeland,

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especially because
it was a world record time.

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“She runs nearly,
more nearly like a man

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than any other woman
they have ever seen.”

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This is Stella Walsh,

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one of the most successful
athletes in the 1930s.

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But her world record times
caused quite a fuss.

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How can any female athlete
run that fast?

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They started to analyze her training.

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They examined her movements.

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Stella Walsh seemed
beyond the ordinary rules,

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exceptional in so many ways

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and hard to even describe.

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You will note, Miss Walsh is very
steady in the get set position.

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She is the only girl that I know of,
that takes a long first stride.

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This is against the ordinary rules

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and the average girl or the average man
takes rather short strides

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and the first one being very short.

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It requires a great deal
of strength and driving power

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to get away with a long first stride.

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This next exercise is very
important, as it develops

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the fingers, the wrists, the shoulders,
the arms and chest muscles,

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which are so important to the sprinter
who is in the get-set position.

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Stella Walsh became
a famous Olympic champion,

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large crowds gathered
to see her competing,

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fascinated by her talent
and her continued success.

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I’m very happy to have won
the final of this 220 yard race.

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It was very tough going,
but came through alright.

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Had some hard luck today, too.

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Now for Miss Walsh, perhaps the most
amazing woman athlete in the world.

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She has a race with a man opponent.

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There is perfect action for you.

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Man is always chasing woman,
but in this case doesn\'t stand a chance.

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Study the start this way

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and you\'ll get a good idea of her style.

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Now she is traveling at top speed,

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but slowed down
by the slow motion camera.

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And still being chased by that man.

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By the way, in case you\'re interested,
she is a vegetarian, maybe that helps.

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Stella, this great array of trophies and
all those medals you have pinned all over you,

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represent a great deal
of intensive training and hard work.

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This plaque looks different, rather odd,
what did you get that one for?

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At the age of 68, Stella Walsh
was accidentally shot in an armed robbery,

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while she was shopping
for a friend\'s birthday.

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Her dead body was autopsied and besides
the cause of death, the doctors also found out:

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Stella Walsh had no uterus.

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So post mortem,
they classified her intersex.

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This information became public,

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all newspapers reported on it,
followed by a great deal of confusion:

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“How to handle an athlete
between the sexes?”

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“How to deal
with her achievements?”

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Today, Stella Walsh
hardly appears in any history book.

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Even though one of the most
successful athletes ever,

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she has been
almost completely forgotten.

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Dear Stella Walsh,

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we want to lean on you

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and you can lean on us.

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We are following your movements

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and transforming them
into gestures of collective support.

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For me a lot came up

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of what are we doing and why.

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And so this idea of celebrating this person,
remembering, some type of honoring.

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Also thinking of the legacy

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and how much female athletes
and queer athletes

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and people on the margins
that have competed

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have not been
remembered or valued

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or made visible in terms of legacy,
of what they’ve done.

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A big part I see around it

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of like celebrating
and somehow remembering.

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And also a piece around ‘training-with’,

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this idea of togetherness.

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Also knowing that this would have been

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a different track than
she would have been getting set for.

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She was touching just dirt,
just straight up dirt

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with leather shoes
that had spikes on them.

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And now we are on recycled tires.

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So something about that too,
and the pieces, nurdles, yeah.

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Dear Stella Walsh,

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we want to hold
and care for your legacy.

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By connecting with your movements,

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we feel the link between your history

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and an untold future.

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If history is written by the victors,

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where does that leave those
whose victories have been forgotten?

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Yeah, this was definitely my experience
competing as a professional athlete,

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and all of the pressure
to hyperfeminize.

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Like long hair, make-up, tight uniforms.

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And I mean a big part of it,
of them saying:

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“This is for marketing,
this is how you fill the stadiums,

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this is how you get fans.”

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Because we didn’t have enough fans.

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And us saying
“Okay, alright, yeah I’ll do that.

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And I’ll wear
what I wanna wear afterwards.

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And I’ll do this in order to get
resources and other opportunities.”

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But then really looking and saying:

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How much of this is really a tool

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that I’m using, enabled
to do this in an empowering way?

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And how much of this is
actually entirely disempowering?

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And stepping off the field and internalizing
so much of that and being like:

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Where am I? What is my experience?
What is empowering for me?

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And so much collisions and questions
in that, with myself and my teammates.

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And like understanding how to use this,

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how to make it a tool or make it ours.

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Yeah, it’s funny.

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I had to stop playing football
because I was a woman.

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And you were forced to be more woman
as you actually wanted to be.

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“More woman”,
I mean, what does it mean?

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Let’s not talk about

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equal pay in sports.

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Yeah, surprise.

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Also a big part for us, like realizing

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that so much of this pressure around
hyperfeminizing and the gender

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and them not wanting to say:

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“We don’t want you to look masculine.”

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And all this homophobia tight to it
that would never be talked about.

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We would just talk about the gender,

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not the sexuality.

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And all of that underlying
subtle pressure that was like:

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“Better be straight and hetero sexy!”

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And to call all these suspicions,
that maybe you’re not straight.

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The market says that you
don’t have enough demand,

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so you don’t deserve.

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So then this feeling of like:
Oh, yeah you’re right, we don’t deserve this.

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But like internalizing all of that
and then coming and looking, thinking:

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We can’t talk about
the rewards and the recognition,

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and we used to say like
on top of the field,

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without looking underneath and
talking about the resources and the rights.

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Like how much have you invested in it,

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how much resources have you put in,
allowed, in order for it to

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grow and be visible and
have value in many different ways.

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For just looking on the surface,

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of course that’s gonna be
the market argument.

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Short question in between:cvf

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Do you know who is
the most successful Olympian of all time?

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Michael Phelps,
winner of 28 Olympic medals.

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A few years ago they found out

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that this guy is equipped
with the perfect athlete’s body.

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His arms have ideal proportions,

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his joints are extremely flexible

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and on top of that,
his muscles produce very little lactic acid.

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This gives him the ability
to perform at full capacity

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for much longer than his competitors.

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Due to this extraordinary physical constitution

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Michael Phelps has won more Olympic medals

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than any other human being on this planet.

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For female athletes with exceptional bodies,

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performing exceptionally well,

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the story has a different ending.

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Shortly after the 1936
Summer Olympics in Berlin,

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the Olympic Committee established
so-called ‘femininity certificates’.

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They were granted
to verify the sex

00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:57.600
of female athletes
with prominent strong muscles.

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In the 1950s, the Athletics World Federation
began with genital examinations.

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From that point on,
every female athletes’ genitals were checked

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to make sure they were actually women.

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Some years later, this examination
was replaced by ‘chromosome testing’,

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which after a while
was proven to be unscientific.

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In 2009 – and valid until this day –
the so-called

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‘Regulations on Female
Hyperandrogenism’ took over.

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Meaning: Women with
naturally high levels of testosterone

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are no longer allowed to compete,
if they don’t reduce these levels.

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A small side note to this regulation:

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Not every female athlete is checked
for their levels of testosterone.

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This only happens when
questions about the gender arise

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and when a female athlete stands out
due to exceptionally fast times

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or due to conspicuously masculine appearance.

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Now please get ready
for the great highlight of today:

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The 800 meter women’s final

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with the world champion
Annet Negesa.

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The stage is set,
the countdown continues

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on one of the glittering
Olympic nights.

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In some ways you may think
they’re just strangers on the screen,

00:42:39.160 --> 00:42:41.000
but they represent so much more.

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Perhaps their combined
stories to get here

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can stand as a symbol
of hope and inspiration.

00:42:47.800 --> 00:42:50.880
A timely reminder
of the power of the human spirit,

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to endure, to believe
and to dream.

00:42:56.000 --> 00:42:58.520
The women’s 800 meter final.

00:53:10.320 --> 00:53:12.160
Such hormone changing surgeries

00:53:12.640 --> 00:53:14.640
have been done to a number of athletes,

00:53:15.080 --> 00:53:17.640
most of whom are female athletes of color.

00:53:19.680 --> 00:53:23.640
The majority of interventions
happened without prior informed consent.

00:53:25.920 --> 00:53:28.040
Anyone who opposes such a procedure

00:53:28.360 --> 00:53:30.000
is no longer allowed to compete,

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like the famous South African
runner Caster Semenya.

00:53:35.160 --> 00:53:39.000
Her lawsuit against the
World Athletics regulation was rejected.

00:53:42.720 --> 00:53:46.960
As such lawsuits are expensive
and without much chance of success,

00:53:47.440 --> 00:53:50.960
most female athletes
do not even try to take legal action.

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If history is written by the victors,
what about those

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who are violently banned from competing?

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Press enter to start the tour.

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Number 1, introduction:

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Ladies and gentlemen,

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welcome to the sacred ground

00:54:18.480 --> 00:54:21.120
of the historic
Olympic stadium in Athens.

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This is the birthplace
of the Olympic ideals.

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I invite you
to become part of the history,

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to feel the emotions
and share the dreams

00:54:41.680 --> 00:54:44.680
that were cultivated
in this stadium for centuries.

00:54:49.360 --> 00:54:52.000
Number 3, architecture:

00:54:52.320 --> 00:54:55.480
This stadium is also
known as ‘Kallimarmaro’,

00:54:55.760 --> 00:54:57.920
which means ‘beautiful marble’.

00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:00.520
With the help of a rich sponsor,

00:55:00.760 --> 00:55:03.640
these tribunes for
about 50,000 spectators

00:55:03.920 --> 00:55:06.680
were built entirely of white marble.

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In 1896, the first Olympic Games of
modern times took place right here.

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Dear audience,

00:55:40.600 --> 00:55:44.720
a small side note to the
noble history of this place:

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Yes, these tribunes were supposed
to be built entirely of marble.

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But as time and money were running out,

00:55:52.560 --> 00:55:56.160
large sections of the structure
had to be built of wood.

00:55:57.120 --> 00:56:00.120
However, you can barely tell the difference.

00:56:00.480 --> 00:56:04.040
And so the spectators,
sitting on white painted wood,

00:56:04.280 --> 00:56:07.360
were convinced to be seated
on precious marble…

00:56:07.600 --> 00:56:11.040
...according to the noble spirit
of the Olympic ideals.

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The goal of the Olympic Games is

00:56:16.480 --> 00:56:19.720
to place sport at the service
of the harmonious development

00:56:19.960 --> 00:56:21.160
of humankind.

00:56:21.400 --> 00:56:23.720
With a view to
promoting a peaceful society

00:56:23.960 --> 00:56:26.600
concerned with the preservation
of human dignity.

00:56:29.440 --> 00:56:33.680
While colonizing, objectifying
and dehumanizing Black bodies,

00:56:34.040 --> 00:56:36.480
white people were celebrating
themselves as Olympians

00:56:37.160 --> 00:56:39.000
right here in this place.

00:56:44.200 --> 00:56:47.440
The surface of this stadiums’
running track was made black,

00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:52.040
to nicely contrast the all-white
athletes competing here.

00:56:56.160 --> 00:56:58.160
Everyone not white and male

00:56:58.440 --> 00:57:00.800
was denied to be part of the games.

00:57:12.360 --> 00:57:14.040
We won’t be satisfied

00:57:14.280 --> 00:57:16.440
with simply joining the games

00:57:16.720 --> 00:57:19.520
and playing by the established rules.

00:57:20.240 --> 00:57:24.440
But since we are here now,
let’s take this one:

00:58:46.440 --> 00:58:48.240
We’ve traveled in time again

00:58:48.480 --> 00:58:52.400
and now welcome you
from the 1962 Indoor championships,

00:58:52.720 --> 00:58:54.440
live from Los Angeles.

00:59:00.280 --> 00:59:03.920
We find ourselves next to some passionate
reporters, right on the press tribune,

00:59:04.560 --> 00:59:07.280
with an excellent
perspective on the events.

00:59:09.440 --> 00:59:11.120
Amongst all these athletes,

00:59:11.360 --> 00:59:14.240
we would like to introduce you
to this extraordinary woman:

00:59:14.520 --> 00:59:17.360
Wilma Rudolph
from Clarksville, Tennessee.

00:59:18.680 --> 00:59:20.440
Growing up in the 1940s

00:59:20.680 --> 00:59:23.720
in a racially segregated United States,

00:59:24.320 --> 00:59:27.240
Wilma Rudolph had to overcome
a severe polio infection.

00:59:27.680 --> 00:59:29.440
She spent years lying in her bed,

00:59:29.720 --> 00:59:32.880
as there was little medical care
available to African Americans.

00:59:34.680 --> 00:59:39.320
Doctors even suspected
she might never be able to walk again.

00:59:40.840 --> 00:59:42.040
Ten years later,

00:59:42.360 --> 00:59:46.680
Wilma Rudolph won her
third Olympic Gold medal in sprinting,

00:59:46.960 --> 00:59:50.120
the first woman ever
to win three gold medals

00:59:50.480 --> 00:59:52.480
in a single Olympic Games.

01:00:24.200 --> 01:00:25.760
After this great success,

01:00:26.000 --> 01:00:29.320
her hometown celebrated
‘Welcome Wilma Day’.

01:00:29.760 --> 01:00:30.920
A parade in her honor,

01:00:31.160 --> 01:00:34.640
that was still planned
to be racially segregated.

01:00:36.760 --> 01:00:39.640
But Wilma Rudolph refused to attend

01:00:39.920 --> 01:00:42.200
if it would not be open to all.

01:00:43.680 --> 01:00:45.880
In the end, her homecoming parade

01:00:46.200 --> 01:00:48.760
became the first non-segregated event

01:00:49.000 --> 01:00:50.680
in the town’s history.

01:01:04.520 --> 01:01:06.080
Dear Wilma Rudolph,

01:01:06.320 --> 01:01:07.760
we are relieved to hear,

01:01:08.040 --> 01:01:10.480
that you’ve not been
all alone in these struggles.

01:01:12.960 --> 01:01:17.600
Ever since she was a young athlete,
Wilma Rudolph had been part of the Tigerbelles,

01:01:17.880 --> 01:01:21.280
a successful sports team
for African American women.

01:01:23.240 --> 01:01:25.960
They supported each other
on their way through a segregated,

01:01:26.280 --> 01:01:28.640
male dominated world of sports.

01:01:48.520 --> 01:01:50.080
For people on the margins

01:01:50.320 --> 01:01:53.320
it’s never only about
the athletic competition.

01:01:54.360 --> 01:01:57.320
We always have to compete
on multiple levels.

01:02:02.120 --> 01:02:04.880
These struggles leave their traces.

01:02:05.400 --> 01:02:09.280
Bodies constantly marked
as other and outside.

01:02:11.520 --> 01:02:15.080
But collectively we can start
transforming these traces

01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:17.680
into well healing scars.

01:02:20.560 --> 01:02:23.280
The first time I did ‘whoosh’,

01:02:23.920 --> 01:02:27.920
and really, there were such
a strope of flesh which were gone.

01:02:28.440 --> 01:02:32.000
It didn’t hurt me.
And this is a really trophy.

01:02:32.360 --> 01:02:35.560
I was eight or something like that,
so that’s really very long ago.

01:02:36.040 --> 01:02:38.320
So you’re proud of it?
- Yeah, I’m very proud of it.

01:02:39.360 --> 01:02:43.960
I actually don’t have any,
many scars or anything visible.

01:02:44.360 --> 01:02:48.800
But my main healing from sport
has been from the pace,

01:02:49.200 --> 01:02:52.120
recovering from the pace
of competitive sport.

01:02:52.560 --> 01:02:55.040
Letting myself catch up to myself

01:02:55.320 --> 01:02:58.560
after this pace of hyperacceleration.

01:02:59.040 --> 01:03:03.120
And what does that kind of slowing down,
deceleration look like.

01:03:03.440 --> 01:03:07.080
But it feels like healing,
whatever that is, the slowing.

01:08:22.560 --> 01:08:24.920
“Any trans female
who is included in sport,

01:08:25.160 --> 01:08:27.720
excludes another biological female.”

01:08:28.880 --> 01:08:31.920
“It is reported to have been
a deliberately transphobic attack.”

01:08:32.560 --> 01:08:35.200
“25 year old African American
shot and killed.”

01:08:35.480 --> 01:08:37.640
“His family claims
he was just out jogging.”

01:08:37.960 --> 01:08:39.480
“A world cup ambassador
who said that

01:08:39.800 --> 01:08:42.840
homosexuality was
damage in the mind.”

01:08:43.360 --> 01:08:47.200
“New information tonight
on that brutal attack on a trans...”

01:08:52.040 --> 01:08:55.120
Yeah, such reports hit us hard.

01:08:55.600 --> 01:08:59.320
Because we are all queer runners
or runners of color.

01:08:59.880 --> 01:09:02.720
So that could have been
any one of us.

01:09:10.520 --> 01:09:12.240
It takes a lot of energy

01:09:12.480 --> 01:09:15.160
simply to exist
as a marginalized body.

01:09:15.760 --> 01:09:20.040
But even more to be exposed
while running in public.

01:09:24.680 --> 01:09:26.200
Competing together

01:09:26.440 --> 01:09:29.160
doesn’t erase the violent structures
we have to face.

01:09:29.400 --> 01:09:32.920
But it does increase the visibility
of bodies like ours.

01:09:33.840 --> 01:09:36.840
And it makes us feel
connected to each other.

01:09:38.760 --> 01:09:40.200
So here we are.

01:09:40.840 --> 01:09:43.880
Continuing to run.
Continuing to live.

01:12:13.840 --> 01:12:19.640
The Olympic Stadium of Berlin, an arena
built of heroes’ tales for eternity.

01:12:21.960 --> 01:12:26.560
But the apparently impenetrable walls
have always been delusional.

01:12:27.280 --> 01:12:33.240
There has never been a solid framework,
the foundation has been loose ever since.

01:12:37.360 --> 01:12:43.040
Now cracks and voids are being revealed,
in which we finally recognize ourselves.

01:12:44.080 --> 01:12:45.840
Wide gaps in time,

01:12:46.280 --> 01:12:48.080
in which long forgotten bodies

01:12:48.400 --> 01:12:51.520
are connected with an unwritten future.

01:12:59.080 --> 01:13:00.760
To accelerate this process,

01:13:01.080 --> 01:13:05.000
we are guiding bundled,
strongly radiating light energy

01:13:05.360 --> 01:13:07.640
into the gaps of the dark stonework,

01:13:08.000 --> 01:13:10.280
as to dissolve it even faster.

01:13:25.320 --> 01:13:27.760
The old monuments begin to crumble.

01:13:28.520 --> 01:13:31.840
The rigid constructs are about to collapse.

01:13:36.600 --> 01:13:40.240
How does one illuminate
a dark and lonely place?

01:13:46.840 --> 01:13:49.200
We don’t know yet
what will emerge on this site.

01:13:49.640 --> 01:13:55.240
But for now it’s time to run,
it’s time to run.