'…thank goodness' — Olympic champion gives odd answer on whether she would wrestle transgender opponents

Olympic gold medalist has weighed in on the debate surrounding transgender athletes in women’s sport.

Mensah-Stock, who won gold for the in freestyle wrestling at the Tokyo games, revealed she would never compete against a biological male. However, that doesn’t mean she’s ruled out ever wrestling a man.

Ana Peleteiro represents women who have suffered sexual abuse in silence but only open up after they have been heartbroken.

«No, thank goodness. But I know a few people that have,» Mensah-Stock told , when asked if she had ever competed against the opposite gender.  «Well, I’ll just say this. I’ve wrestled plenty of guys in practice and I will only wrestle them in practice because wrestling men is very, very difficult even when they are 20 pounds smaller than me,» she added.

«So, like if they’re the same weight as me… I just keep it in practice,» she observes. Mensah-Stock, who became the first Black female to win the Olympic golf in freestyle wrestling, signed with WWE in May and had her first televised match on the July 2 ‘NXT Level Up’, where she was defeated by Wren Sinclair.

The Dutchwoman added another title to her trophy cabinet as her stellar career takes shape.

The topic of transgender athletes competing in women’s sport sparked a mass debate in the sporting world at the Olympic games in Paris.

Algerian boxer , along with Taiwan ‘s Lin Yu-ting, was at the center of a gender controversy over the summer when they won Olympic gold as women after being accused of being biologically male.

In November, the issue over Khelif’s gender was thrust back into the spotlight following a leaked medical report in the German tabloid, Bild , claiming she is a ‘biological male’ and has male characteristics.