Olympic rugby champion Green finds liberation in transition

By DENNIS PASSA
AP Sports Writer

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Ellia Green realized as a young child that a person’s identity and a gender assigned at birth can be very different things. Some 20 years later one of the stars of Australia’s gold medal-winning women’s rugby sevens team at the 2016 Olympics has transitioned to male. Green has kept the same name. He tells The Associated Press it was the best decision of his life. Realizing that sharing his experience could be lifesaving for others is what compelled Green to go public in a video to be shown at an international summit aimed at ending transphobia and homophobia in sport. The summit is being hosted in Ottawa as part of the Bingham Cup rugby tournament.