This is Yvonne Buschbaum, a German track and field athlete who took sixth place in the women's pole vault at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Buschbaum announced this week that she is retiring from track and field and that she will become a man.
"I feel as if I am a man and have to live my life in the body of a woman," Buschbaum said in a statement on her Web site. (The statement has been translated from German to English.) "I am aware of the fact that transsexuality is a fringe issue, and I do not want to be responsible for it remaining on the fringe."
Although gender reassignment will likely involve Buschbaum taking hormones that are on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances, Buschbaum says she has not taken any performance-enhancing drugs during her athletic career.
Your thoughts? Do you know of any other athletes that have taken the plunge and had a sex change?
