Gold Medalist Ellia Green Makes History as the First Olympian to Come Out As A Transgender Male
Olympic gold medalist Ellia Green is making his way into the history books. Six years after winning the gold as part of Australia's women's rugby team at the 2016 Olympics, Ellia confirmed to The Associated Press that he transitioned to male.
Ellias first announced his transition in a video for the Bingham Cup International Summit to combat transphobia and homophobia in sports. During a phone interview with the AP, Ellia revealed that transitioning was the "best decision" of his life and that he realized that he identified with another gender as a child. "As a kid, I remember I thought I was a boy in public, I had a short (haircut), and whenever we met new people, they thought I was a boy,” he recounted. "I always used to wear my brother’s clothes, played with tools, and ran around with no shirt on. Until I grew breasts, and I thought 'oh no'."
Ellia, who Yolanta and Evan Green adopted as a child, revealed that his mom "would dress me in girlie outfits... I always wanted to make her happy, so if she wanted me to wear a dress, I wore a dress."
The Olympian reached a turning point after retiring from Rugby in November 2021. After not being selected for the Australian women's team for the Tokyo Olympics he says, "I spent a lot of time after I finished up my career with Australian rugby just in the house, in a dark room, I didn’t have the confidence to see anyone."
Despite undergoing a difficult time, Ellia found inspiration in his new identity. "The one thing that did keep me positive is that I had already planned my surgery and treatment towards my transition. It was something I was counting down the days with my partner," he revealed in the pre-recorded video.
Ellia's transition has inspired him to encourage other athletes amid legislation that seeks to ban trans and gender-diverse people. "Banning transgender people from sport is disgraceful and hurtful," he said.
Now a proud father to daughter, Waitui, and partner to Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, Ellia looks back on his journey with pride. "I just knew it was going to be the most liberating feeling when I had that surgery and when I started to take the steps towards being in the body I know I'm meant to be in. That was definitely something that was a bright spark in my mind during these dark times."
Ellia is the only Olympic athlete to come out as a transgender male. Caitlyn Jenner revealed that she was a transgender woman in 2015, more than 40 years after she won Olympic gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Last August, Quinn, a Canadian women's soccer team player who goes by one name, came out as transgender and non-binary.
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