We've got another "dominant" trans athlete going viral.
While it is true that Redmond Sullivan has had two first place finishes in tournaments since transitioning, if you look at her record, you might notice this isn't as dominant as claimed.
First I have to explain fencing ratings.
You have individual ratings A through E. The As are top fencers and Es (or unrated) fencers are the worst. The number after the rating is the year.
So a rating of A25 means you are a top level fencer in 2025.
Then you have event classes. They are also A through E but have an additional 1 through 4 difficulty variant.
The easiest tournament is E1.
It has 6 competitors and none of them have to be rated. So you are competing against poorly ranked people and have a much higher statistical chance of winning.
This is like playing basketball with all of your nerdiest friends and "accidentally" forgetting to invite Steve who is 6'4".
The hardest tournaments are A4.
This requires at least 64 competitors and must have at least 12 A-rated, 12 B-rated, and 12 C-rated fencers.
This is like being a 40 year old playing Halo against a hundred 12-year-olds all saying rude things about your mom while repeatedly headshotting you with ease.
If you look at Redmond's two first place finishes, they were in E1 and D1 competitions. (A D1 requires 15 people with four of them E-rated.)
She had a decent statistical chance of winning because the competitors were few and poorly rated.
If you look at her only A4 tournament, she placed 172nd.
I'm not sure I would call someone who placed 172nd particularly dominant.
She currently has a "D" rating overall.
When fencing in men's competitions, she was rated E. And she slightly improved to a D in women's competitions—though this is only with 3 months of data. She ended 2024 with an E rating in women's events. So maybe she improved to a D and a half.
No offense to Redmond, but she is not anywhere close to a top level fencer no matter which league she competes in.
Stephanie Turner, the kneeling transphobe, currently has an E rating and has never finished a year better than a D. By all accounts, she is evenly matched against Redmond and had a legit chance at winning the match. But it was an A2 tournament and she really had no chance of placing highly so I guess she figured this was a good opportunity to be a dipshit.
She is a coward who only took a stand when the stakes were lowest.
I'd also like to point out that Colin Rugg was quick to mention Redmond's first place finishes, but failed to mention that in the very tournament with this kneeling protest, she got 24th place.
It really seems like these trans athletes aren't trying to become dominant athletes by transitioning and they are just competing because they love it.
I mean, if I ever got 172nd place I'd probably hang up my rapier and just watch Zorro movies instead.
