SIMPLY
making a public announcement would have taken
balls for the elite athlete from the
multi-billion yen boat racing industry.
And what should have been a testy time for
the 39-year-old racer passed smoothly as he
proudly announced that he was no longer a
she.
Boat racer Hiromasa Ando told a news
conference last week that the Japan Motorboat
Racing Federation had recognized his application
to compete as a man rather than the female he
had been most of his life.
"With my sex change operation, I'm basically
throwing 38 years of my life away, but I was
just filled with a feeling that I could no
longer live out a life of lying," Shukan Shincho
(4/11) quotes Ando as saying.
Ando suffers from gender disorder, meaning
the sex he feels he is and the actual gender he
was born as don't match. He is one of only a
handful of people to have undergone a sex change
operation since they were legalized in Japan in
1998, though thousands across the country are
said to be afflicted.
"It was during my elementary school days that
I began to realize I was a little bit different
from those around me. And I really upset some of
the girls I fell in love with. It really used to
make me cry when I was forced to wear a skirt,"
he says.
Shukan Shincho says that Ando was always good
at sports, which allowed him to forget about his
worries over being born in a woman's body.
"I became a boat racer because I wanted a
career in some kind of sport and the money was
reasonably good," he says. "As a woman racer, I
used to hate it when I had to wear make-up, but
I just figured it was part of the job and put up
with it on the surface."
Shukan Shincho notes that boat races nearly
always feature male and female competitors.
Women must weigh over 45 kilograms and guys have
to top the scales at least five kilograms
heavier than that. With speed more likely with a
lighter driver, female racers often make more
than their male counterparts.
Ando received the go-ahead to undergo a sex
change operation in July last year and has been
receiving hormone treatments since last
September. He had a mastectomy in December and
has further plans to enhance his manhood.
"My voice has gotten deeper and now I weigh
51 kilograms. The next logical step for me is to
undergo an operation that will give me a set of
genitals," he says.
Ando once dated a woman who understood his
peculiar circumstances, but says he doesn't have
anybody special at the moment.
"Because I really hated my body because I
didn't have much of a libido, but now I wouldn't
mind finding myself somebody to settle down
with," he says.
When a boat racer changes gender, the
conditions under which they can race also
change. As punters are putting their hard earned
yen on races in which Ando appears, he was
legally obligated to publicly disclose the fact
that he had become a bloke. Despite reservations
about doing so, Ando is glad he did.
"I'm really grateful the Japan Motorboat
Racing Federation recognized my change," he
says. "I think they've made an amazing
decision."
Shukan Shincho notes that changing from a
woman to a man makes it harder for Ando to win
races, but the sex change speed boater finds no
problem with that.
"I just want to give it my best as a male
racer to thank the fans for all their
support."
