Trans athlete wins national league title, the first out trans champion in the country's sport
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/trans-athlete-wins-national-league-title-the-first-out-trans-champion-in-the-country-s-sport/ar-AA1Emecz?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=5907ee75426048fc8bb9c2f4b8b9ef93&ei=52
Story by Jon Holmes (7 May 2025)
Trans athlete Tifanny Abreu hopes her successful season with Brazil volleyball league winners Osasco will inspire young people to follow their dreams in sport.
The 40-year-old is celebrating after she helped her team to its first Superliga title since 2012, capping a memorable "triple crown" season which also saw Osasco claim the Campeonato Paulista and the Copa Brasil trophies.
More than 10,000 fans packed into Sao Paulo's Ibirapuera Gymnasium to see Abreu and her teammates defeat Sesi-Bauru by 3 sets to 1 in the final.
"I worked hard for this, I trained a lot and today I am here as the Superliga champion," Abreu told Visao Oeste after collecting her medal.
She was the second-highest points scorer in the final, contributing one less than Osasco's star player and tournament MVP, Natalia Zilio Pereira. Natalia, a three-time Olympian and gold medal winner from London 2012, scored 25 points.
Speaking to RedeTV a few days after the final, Abreu was unapologetic about her status as a trans woman athlete, despite the immense scrutiny. She says that when people meet her and get to know her over time, their "assumptions" fade away.
"Within my club, it is so natural that sometimes we even forget that I am a trans person," she explains.