Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has slammed a transgender Australian athlete for complaining about potentially being banned from the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Hannah Mouncey, born Callum, competed for the Australian men’s handball team before transitioning in 2015 and playing for her country’s women’s team.
President Trump, meanwhile, has overseen a huge push this year to keep trans athletes out of women’s sports across all levels of competition in the United States – an issue he campaigned heavily on last year.
At the beginning of August, the Deparment of Homeland Security updated visa rules to stop transgender women traveling to the US to compete in elite sporting events.
‘You’re banning someone from competing who has done nothing wrong,’ Mouncey, 35, said in an interview with Code AFL in Australia, responding to the developments. ‘This is no fault of their own. People who have willingly gone out and doped are allowed to compete again in four years.’
As the interview on the polarizing topic gained traction it caught the eye of Rowling, a fierce citic of trans athletes competing against women.
JK Rowling tore into Australian trans athlete Hannah Mouncey over her Olympics comments
Mouncey faces a ban from the LA Olympics amid new visa rules Donald Trump has overseen
‘Man fears he won’t be allowed to cheat his way to the Olympics by playing against women,’ Rowling wrote, linking to a report on Mouncey’s comments.
‘Man says anti-cheat sentiment is being ‘weaponised’ against men like him, who cheat. Read more here about why the cheating man is sad and why the women he might injure just don’t matter.’
Rowling’s stance has caused friction with her huge following from writing the Harry Potter series but it remains something she is defiant on.
In the Code AFL interview, Mouncey said she expects to be banned from competing ‘by the end of the year, if I am honest.’
Mouncey continued: ‘I’m sure there’ll be challenges coming for it. There just will be. It seems like that is where they are going at the moment, they are looking probably at a ban across the board, and not just for trans athletes, but intersex athletes. They will be forced to compete in the men’s competition.
‘But I am playing for Australia at the moment, I have played for the Australian women’s team for seven or eight years now, and I have had no issues really at all, especially from overseas.’
But the United States Citizenship and Immigration Proccess released a statement on August 4 underlining the determination to enforce the ruling.
‘It’s a matter of safety, fairness, respect, and truth that only female athletes receive a visa to come to the U.S. to participate in women’s sports,’ they said in a statement.
The issue has been a key topic of focus since Trump returned to the White House
Imane Khelif was subjected to scrutiny over her gender eligibiltiy at last year’s Olympics
‘The Trump Administration is standing up for the silent majority who’ve long been victims of leftist policies that defy common sense.’
The issue was a huge talking point in last year’s Paris Olympics, especially in women’s boxing.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif received major international scrutiny as she fought her way to a gold medal, sparked in part by Italian boxer Angela Carini tearfully quitting their fight after 46 seconds and refusing to shake Khelif’s hand. While Khelif is not transgender, she was alleged to have failed a gender test two years ago.
The previous governing body for Olympic boxing, the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association, had disqualified Khelif from its 2023 world championships after claiming she failed unspecified eligibility tests.
But the IBA was banished for decades of misdeeds and controversy. The IOC ran the past two Olympic boxing tournaments in its place and it applied the sex eligibility rules used in previous Olympics. Khelif was eligible to compete under those standards.
Khelif, 26, was widely expected to return to boxing in June in the Netherlands but the Olympic champion skipped the Eindhoven Box Cup after World Boxing announced mandatory sex testing for all athletes.
The Los Angeles Olympics run from July 14-30, 2028.
