Transgender fencer hit out after defeating 14-time women’s champion

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A transgender fencer has sparked outrage after winning her eighth world title.

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Liz Kocab was branded an “entitled fraudster” by women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines after the 71-year-old won gold at the Veterans World Fencing Championships.

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Kocab competed in the women’s over-70 age group, where she defeated 14-time champion Marja-Liisa Someroja of Finland.

It was Kocab’s fourth consecutive major victory, having won the title in 2018, 2019 and 2022 (there were no competitions in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic).

Gaines shared a video of Kocab on

“Liz Kocab (male) wins his 8th world fencing title…in the women’s category,” Gaines wrote on X.

“If you win a title in the women’s category as a man, you’re not a champion,” the former college swimmer continued. “That makes you an entitled fraudster.”

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Also Marshi Smith, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports sounded on X about the fencer’s recent victory in the governing body of Olympic sports.

“This man will retire as one of the greatest female fencers of all time because @FIE_fencing and @Olympics made female fencing a joke,” Smith said.

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Kocab almost quit the sport but returned to competition this year to support USA Fencing.

“I wanted to support USA Fencing, I really did,” Kocab said. “Otherwise I would actually have thought about resigning. But the fact that it was in America I thought was important to support the US. This is my way of saying thank you to USA Fencing.”

With her latest win, Kocab advanced to the team competition, where she will once again fight for gold.

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It is not known when Kocab moved.

Fencing USA, the sport’s official organization, previously announced its support for non-binary and transgender athletes, calling it “both a moral and ethical imperative.”

Its policy was announced last November.

“It is critical that we protect the rights of nonbinary and transgender athletes in fencing,” CEO Phil Andrews said at the time Fox News.

“While we plan to conduct more scientific research on the physiological effects of gender transition as they apply specifically to the sport of fencing, we continue to unanimously and strongly support the use of transgender athletes in fencing,” he continued.

“To be clear, even as this issue continues to evolve, our support for transgender athletes will not diminish.”

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