Canada facing Sweden in the final on Friday.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nThe 25-year-old remains eligible to compete in women’s sport despite identifying as transgender because gender identity differs from a person’s sex – their physical biology.<\/span><\/p>\nMost people, unless they’re non-binary, have a gender identity of male or female.<\/span><\/p>\nQuinn was assigned female at birth but after many years of questioning themselves, realised their own gender identity did not match their sex.<\/span><\/p>\nIn an exclusive interview in September, Quinn told BBC Sport how there are still “spaces of ignorance” in women’s football, their Olympic ambitions, and their concern as sporting governing bodies start to weigh up transgender policies.<\/span><\/p>\n‘More learning to be done’ in women’s football<\/h3>\n On coming out as transgender in an Instagram post, it marked the end of Quinn living “essentially two different lives”.<\/span><\/p>\n“I really didn’t like feeling like I had a disconnect between different parts of my life, being a public figure, and so I wanted to live authentically,” they said.<\/span><\/p>\n“I think being visible is huge and it’s something that helped me when I was trying to figure out my identity.<\/span><\/p>\n“I wanted to pass that along and then hopefully other people will come out as well if they feel safe to do so and I can create a safer space for them.”<\/span><\/p>\nQuinn had their first interactions with transgender people at college and it was at that point, they said, that they “really understood that was who I was”. <\/span><\/p>\nQuinn has 63 caps for Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n“I couldn’t verbalise what I was feeling before and I didn’t have the right language to articulate how I was feeling before that.<\/span><\/p>\n“We live in a world that is so binary and I have been receiving messages ever since I was a young child about how I should act, how I should portray myself and how I should be and anything that deviated from that was essentially wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n“I wanted to live my authentic self, dress the way I wanted to, present the way I wanted to, and that wasn’t always seen as positive, so that was really hard to digest.”<\/span><\/p>\nThose in Quinn’s personal circle have known their identity for some time, and the reaction from Canada team-mates, who they told in an email, was “overwhelmingly positive”.<\/span><\/p>\nFor “the most part”, women’s football is a supportive space, added OL Reign player Quinn, but there are still “spaces of ignorance”.<\/span><\/p>\n“It’s been a really long ride with [Canada team-mates] and they are people who I consider some of my best friends,” Quinn said. “A lot of those players have been my concrete supports going through this process. <\/span><\/p>\n“I think when looking at the larger realm of women’s football there still are spaces of ignorance and there is a little bit of push back, so those are definitely opinions that I want to see change over a period of time and to create a completely safe space for me, because quite honestly I don’t think sport is there yet and women’s football is there yet.”<\/span><\/p>\nDespite their team-mates’ acceptance and support, Quinn admitted there is “still a lot of learning to be done”.<\/span><\/p>\n“I’m really open for my team-mates wanting to talk to me,” Quinn said. “I wasn’t taught throughout the course of my life what it meant to be trans, all the language around it. I think that’s something that’s new for a lot of people.<\/span><\/p>\n“Once I started living more authentically in my life, whether that’s just how I present myself or coming out to them as trans, I think they’ve all said to me it’s really incredible to see me just live my authentic self and how I’ve exuded a different level of confidence, and how it just fits with who I am as a person.”<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"Quinn](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/624\/cpsprodpb\/11905\/production\/_114514917_quinn2.png\")
![\"Quinn](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/624\/cpsprodpb\/6AAA\/production\/_114560372_quinn.png\")