Transgender Athlete Looks to Qualify in Hammer

Keelin Godsey is one of 24 athletes scheduled to participate Thursday in the women’s hammer throw at the United States Olympic trials, but for Godsey, 28, of North Adams, Mass., there is much more than a spot in London at stake.

Godsey is a transgender man, and is seeking to become the first openly transgender athlete to make a United States Olympic team. Godsey was known as Kelly until his senior year of college, at which point he began the difficult process of changing his gender identity while simultaneously continuing a successful athletic career. He earned 16 all-American awards as a member of the Bates College track and field team.

“This has been a dream of Keelin’s forever,” Godsey’s mother, Renee, said in a telephone interview. “I have a very good feeling about Thursday.”