Background
Tifanny Abreu made volleyball history when she became the first trans female to play in Brazil’s Superliga. Since then, she broke the competition’s single game scoring record, and has dominated the league’s offensive statistics. Such performances has drawn the ire of many teams, players, and fans, who have asked the Brazilian Volleyball Federation (CBV) to find a “solution” to the situation. Although CBV has not yet taken any action on the matter, as it will probably wait for FIVB’s future decisions, clubs have taken action by agreeing to tag Tifanny with a maximum score in Superliga’s parity system for next season, one of only two players who are not Olympic gold medalists, but yet were singled out with the distinction. She has recently extended her contract with Bauru for next season, although a call up for Brazil’s national team was axed by the CBV and FIVB.
Story
Tifanny made yet more headlines this summer when she joined one of Brazil’s biggest political parties in hopes of running for congress. It was speculated that Bauru’s signing of Italian player Valentina Diouf was an insurance policy on Tifanny’s departure from the team in case she got elected. However, it now seems that Bauru‘s management can breathe easily, as Tifanny spoke to famous Brazilian blogger Bruno Voloch about her plans for the future, and shot down any rumos that had her leaving the sport for politics, at least for now:
“Volleyball is my job and I’ll only stop playing it once my body stops responding. I love my sport. Volleyball has always been, and will always be, my top priority. However, I can also think about and act on helping the future of other people, and politics may be the way to that. I suddenly became a public figure, and therefore have my responsabilities.”
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