Nancy Hogshead Honored for Advocacy, Continues Push for WNBA Eligibility Rules

Three-time Olympic swimming champion Nancy Hogshead was honored on Thursday for her advocacy for female athletes, a role she continues as she urges the WNBA to formally establish female-only eligibility rules. Hogshead received the U.S. Olympians and Paralympians Association’s Dorothy Franey Langkop Ambassador Award, which recognizes continued service to the Olympic and Paralympic movement after an athlete’s competitive career.

"It was just really nice to be recognized by my peers," Hogshead told OutKick in an interview. Hogshead, a civil rights attorney and founder of Champion Women, has dedicated years to Title IX compliance, protections against sexual abuse in sports, and preserving female athletic categories.

Her current efforts include a petition advocating for the WNBA to explicitly define "woman" as female for eligibility purposes. Launched in August, the petition had garnered over 21,000 verified signatures as of Friday. Hogshead stated that hundreds of Olympians and Paralympians support the broader initiative to maintain women's sports for female athletes.

"People who are in sport, they want sport to be formally sex-segregated," she said. Hogshead wore an XX-XY Athletics shirt to the award ceremony and reported a positive reception from attendees. "People came up to me all night long and were saying, ‘Thank you so much for what you’re wearing. Thanks so much for what you’re doing. I have daughters. I have granddaughters,’" she recounted.

During her acceptance speech, Hogshead emphasized the responsibility of Olympic and Paralympic athletes to use their platforms to defend the principles that enabled their athletic careers. "Every girl in this country who gets a team, a scholarship, a locker room, a coach and a fair sport is standing on what we built," she stated. "My work has been to defend and further those wins, to make sure that women’s sports remain a space for females, to make sure that girls’ and women’s programs are funded the way that the law requires, not the way that’s necessarily convenient, and to hold our movement accountable for abusive coaches and for the safety of our athletes."

The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement specifies that only women are eligible to play in the league but does not provide a specific definition of the term or a detailed transgender eligibility policy. The league addressed the topic in August, stating there were "no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA" and condemning what it described as "bad-faith efforts" to demean or marginalize others. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert also indicated that the league would continue discussions with the players’ association while prioritizing fair competition and the integrity of the game.

No transgender woman has yet played in the WNBA. Hogshead, however, argued that the league should establish its rules proactively. "Boys and men have invaded virtually every aspect of girls’ sports," she said. "It’s inevitable that, of course, a male will come in. And why not? You’re the WNBA. Come up with eligibility criteria that is supportive of a female-only category."

Hogshead won three gold medals and one silver at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Champion Women notes that its efforts have also contributed to federal legislation establishing the U.S. Center for SafeSport and strengthening oversight of abuse within the Olympic movement. "We didn’t inherit the Olympic dream to keep it for ourselves," Hogshead concluded her speech. "We inherited it to pass it on."