Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard to Make History at Olympics

Last week, it was announced that New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is set to be the first out, transgender person to compete at the Olympics, which will take place this summer in Tokyo.

Hubbard previously medaled at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships and at the 2019 Pacific Games in the heaviest categories of weightlifting.

Although the New Zealand Olympic Committee will not announce teams for another month, a source with the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) told The Guardian that rule changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic means that Hubbard is a shoo-in for the team.

Previously, lifters needed to have competed at six competitions, but that requirement was lowered to four after several major competitions were canceled due to the pandemic.

At age 43, Hubbard would also be the oldest lifter at the Tokyo games. She suffered a major injury at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia but came back to win the gold at the Pacific Games the next year. She is currently ranked number 16 in the world in women’s weightlifting, and several people ranked above her will not be at the Olympics because the number of athletes each country can send is being limited due to the pandemic by the IWF.

Hubbard started her transition in 2012 after having previously competed in men’s categories. She came back to competitive lifting in 2017, two years after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) changed its rules to allow trans women to compete if they have been on hormone replacement therapy for 12 months and have a low level of testosterone.

Unfortunately, Hubbard is still subjected to transphobic attacks. The Australian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) tried to block her from the 2018 Commonwealth Games, but organizers let her compete.

“A man is a man and a woman is a woman,” AFW Chief Executive Michael Keelan said. “I know a lot of changes have gone through, but in the past, Laurel Hubbard used to be a male champion weightlifter. The strength is still there and I think it’s very unfair, and for all females its unfair.”

This has not stopped Hubbard from living as her true self and participating in a sport she loves. She is modest about her role as a trans woman visible on the world stage.

In a 2017 interview, she said, “It is not my role or my goal to change people’s minds. I would hope they would support me, but it’s not for me to make them do so. I am not here to change world, I just want to be me and do what I do.”

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