Nonbinary runner Nikki Hiltz advances to semifinal in 1500 meters

What they're saying: Hiltz said it was always their dream to make an Olympics team, but they told Axios it means even more to be competing as their authentic self.

• "I've been living the dream," Hiltz said, speaking to reporters shortly after Tuesday's heat. Hiltz said they have been trying to maximize the experience, from staying in the Olympic Village to taking part in opening ceremonies to hanging out with other queer athletes. "I want to take it all in."

Yes, but: The gender controversy around other athletes is not lost on Hiltz. Hiltz said the fact they compete in the gender they were assigned at birth doesn't mean there shouldn't be a place for transgender girls and women in sports.

• "I would never want my identity to be weaponized against my community," they said. "I think trans women are women, and they deserve to compete wherever they're comfortable."
• While there were two transgender women at the Tokyo Games — New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard and Team USA BMX alternate Chelsea Wolfe — there are none known to be competing in Paris. Several international federations, including track's governing body, have since adopted rules that make it all but impossible for transgender women to take part.
• Hiltz would like to see that change. "I don't have all the answers on what that looks like, but I just know sports has provided me so much joy and life lessons along the way."

Hiltz also addressed the hate being directed at boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting, two female boxers who have been the subject of vicious online attacks amid questions around their gender.

• "The past week's been hard and there's been a lot of hate and transphobia and just a lot of ignorance," Hiltz said. "I've had to, you know, put up some barriers and boundaries with social media and things like that. But I think I was gonna do that anyways."
• "I've done all the work to be here," Hiltz said. "I'm so mentally prepared. I'm so physically prepared. I don't want some idiot or jerk online to take that from me."