Women’s fencer Stephanie Turner will be stepping back from fencing “for a while” after she was placed on a 12-month probation by USA Fencing for refusing to compete against a transgender athlete last month, a report said.
Stephanie Turner, 31, was disqualified from USA Fencing’s Cherry Blossom Open when she took a knee rather than fence Redmond Sullivan, a 20-year-old who was born biologically male.
The drama that followed the decision, which made national headlines, “has disrupted my training, it has disrupted my interactions when I go out in public, and it will certainly disrupt my competition because I won’t be competing in the United States any time soon,” she told Fox News.
USA Fencing slapped her on a 12-month probation — which does not bar her from competing — but Turner said she’ll be “taking a break from fencing for a while in the US circuit” anyway.
During her time away from the piste, Turner said she will join the movement to ban trans athletes from women’s sports.
