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On April 19, U.S. Olympic middle distance runner Nikki Hiltz posted a TikTok video that included footage of an interview with women’s marathon runner Natalie Daniels. The post came just two days before Daniels was set to compete in the Boston Marathon, and just six months after she gave birth to her first child.
Hiltz’s TikTok opened with a clip of Daniels sharing how she considered not competing in the marathon because biologically male trans athletes would be competing in the women’s field. The clip was originally from a promotional interview with the activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics.
In the same post on the popular social media platform, Hiltz encouraged Daniels to drop out because of her concerns about trans inclusion, while disagreeing with the new mother’s stance against it.
For Hiltz, the post was in line with the athlete’s regular TikTok content, which often shows the Olympian promoting pro-transgender beliefs and arguing against opposition to trans inclusion in sports. Hiltz is a biologically female athlete who competes in the women’s category, while identifying as transgender and non-binary.
Soon after Hiltz’s TikTok post went live, the reaction from it was aimed at Daniels, who said many of Hiltz’s followers and fans began to send her startling messages.
“I didn’t think there would be this rabid cruelty,” Daniels told Fox News Digital of the response she received from the interview. “People were trying to find us when we were in Boston.”
Daniels alleges one person told her, “‘I live in Boston, and if I see you on the street, I’m going to hunt you down.'”
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The new mother said the worst alleged comment she saw was from a person who said, “‘I hope that your son comes out as trans and never speaks to you again.'” Her son was only six months old at the time.
Daniels said she ultimately takes responsibility for the messages directed towards her and her family. Still, she cited Hiltz’s TikTok for contributing to the backlash.
“[Hiltz] has freedom of speech also. So [Hiltz’s] opinion is just as valid to be shared as mine is,” Daniels said. “I think [Hiltz] encouraged a pile-on that got really out of hand, probably, I think, very quickly … I think the fact that [Hiltz] didn’t do anything about it is unsurprising.
“I think I’m ultimately responsible for what I said. And I know that what I said was said out of love and a desire to continue supporting and encouraging women and women’s sports.”
Still, it didn’t make the experience any easier for Daniels.
“The very hateful messages were upsetting. There were a few times where I would just be, I don’t want to cry, but a few times I would just start crying,” she said. “And I would tell my husband, ‘I’m sorry, it’s just like a lot, it’s a lot to deal with, to have people being like ‘You’re this evil hateful bigot,’ or ‘You’re stupid.'”
“Instead of having this very rational engagement, they went straight to threats and violence.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Hiltz’s talent agency, Hawi Management, for a response.
When the day of the Boston Marathon came, April 21, Daniels was prepared for potential attacks and heckling against her on the course after getting messages warning her of it, she alleges. But instead, she only ever heard roaring chants of support, she claims. She even had one of her best finishes, reaching the finish line in 2:50:04 in 110th place.
The love continued on social media, as she saw an outpouring of praise and respect that eventually overshadowed the support she was getting for standing up for women’s sports and appearing in the XX-XY Athletics interview to begin with.
For Daniels, it helped validate a decision that she made, partially due to the experience of becoming a new mother. Daniels said that during her pregnancy, a trip to an obstetrician included a survey that assumed the only reason she was pregnant was due to failed birth control, and not her own intentions.
“In society, I just feel like there is this reductive definition of what it means to be a woman, and what it means to be a woman is basically one thing, and it’s access to abortion. And in our culture, that just kinda seems like that’s all any of us are supposed to care about,” Daniels, a native of Virginia, said. She added that the survey, and the growing cultural stigmatization of pregnancy, fed right into her passion for protecting female athletes from trans inclusion as well.
“I know those things may be different things, but it all ties into this dehumanization of women. To me it feels like in this culture, in this political climate, womanhood is this incredibly nebulous, undefinable thing,” she added.
The decision earned Daniels praise and support during the marathon and online but not from her running club, Light Horse Track Club in Washington, D.C., which she alleges was more aligned with Hiltz than her.
Daniels said she was confronted by the decision to appear in the XX-XY Athletics interview by the club’s leadership.
Daniels said she offered to make a statement clarifying that her stance wasn’t meant to attack trans people for their identities, but to stand up for women like herself. But that wasn’t going to be enough, she said.
She alleges they offered to let her continue running for the club if she would issue an apology and publicly recognize the ability for a biological male to become a woman, which she refused to do.
Daniels alleges that she was told by the club that in order to appease its directors, she had to share a statement on social media that read: “‘I now understand that a person can take hormones and surgery, and they can become a woman.'”
“I was like, ‘I am not going to do that. I cannot do that…’ It goes completely against my Christian values,” she said. “It goes completely against what I know about how God works.”
Daniels said she then found out about her removal from the team via a text message and email from the board while she was sitting on her patio.
So now, she is starting her own running club with XX-XY Athletics and founder Jennifer Sey.
And while she is still adjusting to the regular online hate, and even the occasional heckle from spectators at competitions, Daniels said she is looking forward to raising her family and embracing her new role in the movement to keep trans athletes out of women’s sports.
The Light Horse Track Club did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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