Sharron Davies on being cancelled and why she has no regrets
The former Olympic swimmer and women’s righters campaigner talks about the personal and financial toll of speaking out and her pride in becoming a Baroness.
The former Olympic swimmer and women’s righters campaigner talks about the personal and financial toll of speaking out and her pride in becoming a Baroness.
I was sat in the garden last June when Kemi Badenoch called completely out of the blue. The Conservatives were allowed three new Tory peers, and she wanted me to be one of them.
I’ve known Kemi since she was Minister for Women and Equalities, but that was still surreal. I had to keep it a secret until December, although I did tell my three kids and my father – he’s 90 and I wanted him to know, just in case the worst happened.
My initial reaction was that I wouldn’t give up Grandma Day! Every week, my grandchildren, Ariya, five, and Ovi, two, come and stay with me. I pick them up from school, we go to Sainsbury’s to buy lovely food, and then we hang out together – I love it.
I told Kemi that Grandma Day was sacrosanct. She said they would work out the details, I won’t have to be in London five days a week. But being a baroness won’t change me. I want to be approachable and don’t want people to use the title.
They just took the mickey, like kids do. Elliott, 32, runs his own recruitment business, Grace, 27, is in marketing and communications, and Finley, 19, wants to join the Forces.
I have a blind basset hound called Flash and a dachshund called Ed, who are constantly on my lap, so my nickname is now Baroness Dogsbottom.
It goes way back, beyond the current trans debate. I swam for Britain when I was 11 and competed at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 when I was just 13. It felt incredible but, in 1980, I was very nervous going to the Moscow Olympics.
It was well-known that some of the East German swimmers were on steroids, but Petra Schneider, who beat me to gold by ten seconds in the 400-metre medley, could have worn a knitted swimming suit and still won. It was years later she admitted having injections that made her perform more like a man.
Standing on the podium to receive that silver medal was still the best day of my life.
It was fantastic that so many people supported me when Petra finally made her admission years later. Even Petra thought I should have my medal upgraded to gold, but that never happened. I doubt it ever will. I carried a massive sense of injustice and, just like transgender athletes competing against women now, so many people chose to look the other way and ignore the problem.
When I started to speak up on trans issues, I was vilified on social media and lost a lot of media work. Life has sometimes been hard over the last seven years, but I’d do the same again.
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