Fawkner wins first medals as Kate

KATE Fawkner has won her first athletics medals since transitioning to a female. Fawkner came out as a female two years ago and is now on the waiting list to receive hormone treatment to complete her transition. However, until she receives her treatment Athletics Australia has ordered Fawkner to remain competing in the men's competitions. Fawkner travelled to Bendigo last weekend to participate in the Victoria Country Track and Field Championships where she took away three medals. She won gold in the seated javelin and seated discus and silver in the seated shotput. "We went down on Friday in the shocking storm we had," Fawkner said. "When we got there the track was covered so they had to push the afternoon sessions back. "I then competed in the javelin on Saturday morning, followed by shotput Saturday afternoon and discus on Sunday. "I'm now officially Kate on all of my documents, licence and birth certificate so it was great to win my first medals as Kate." Fawkner has been on the road to recovery the past 10 months after missing last year's national championships. She was set to travel to Sydney in April but was struck down a week prior in Melbourne when training. "I was getting ready for dinner at my accommodation in Dandenong and as I was getting ready for tea I completely stopped breathing," she said. "From there I was rushed to the Dandenong Hospital in an ambulance and they found that my voice box and vocal chords were severely damaged. "Some of my chords were completely paralised and the gap from my throat to my lungs was 3mm wide when it's supposed to be 15mm so I wasn't getting enough air in. "They then had to use a laser to cut away some of the voice box so there was more of a gap for air to get in." Fawkner will now target this year's national championships where she has already qualified for her javelin and discus events off the back on her performances last weekend. She also has her eyes firmly set to two years down the track. "A big goal for me is to make the Australian team for the 2024 Paris Olympics ," she said. "First I wanted to tick off my transition and now that that's happening I'm aiming to compete as a woman in women's events and then also hopefully compete in Paris."

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