Laurel Hubbard (born 9 February 1978) is a New Zealand

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lift ...

. Selected to compete at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, she was the first openly

transgender woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and som ...

to compete in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Prior to making her Olympic debut, Hubbard achieved a ranking of 7th in the IWF's women's +87 kg division.

Career

While competing in male competitive categories before coming out as

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

, Hubbard set New Zealand junior records in 1998 in the newly established M105+ division in both lifts (snatch 135 kg, clean & jerk 170 kg) as well as total (300 kg). Those records were later surpassed by

David Liti David Andrew Liti (born 11 July 1996) is a New Zealand weightlifter, who won the gold medal in the +105 kg event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. His total lift of 403 kg was a Commonwealth Games record. At the Games' closing ceremony, L ...

. Hubbard has spoken against what she calls "one of the misconceptions that's out there" that she had been training all her life before she transitioned, stating that she ceased lifting in 2001, explaining, "it just became too much to bear ... just the pressure of trying to fit into a world that perhaps wasn't really set up for people like myself". In 2012, Hubbard transitioned to female. She began

hormone therapy Hormone therapy or hormonal therapy is the use of hormones in medical treatment. Treatment with hormone antagonists may also be referred to as hormonal therapy or antihormone therapy. The most general classes of hormone therapy are oncologic horm ...

that year. Hubbard competed in international weightlifting for the first time in 2017. At the 2017 Australian International & Australian Open in Melbourne, she competed at the heaviest 90 kg+ category, winning the gold medal with a 123 kg snatch and 145 kg clean & jerk, for a total of 268 kg at a bodyweight of 131.83 kg. She thus became the first

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...

to win an international weightlifting title for New Zealand. Although Hubbard met eligibility requirements to compete, her win was met with criticism, with some other competitors saying the competition was unfair. Athletes that were critical of the decision to allow Hubbard to compete include

Iuniarra Sipaia Iuniarra Sipaia (née Simanu, born 25 June 1993) is a Samoan female weightlifter. She has represented Samoa in several international competitions such as Pacific Mini Games, Commonwealth Games, Oceania Weightlifting Championships and Asian Indo ...

Toafitu Perive Toafitu Perive (born 7 January 1985) is a Samoan weightlifter competing in the 77 kg category. He competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) ...

Deborah Acason Deborah Esther Ainslie Acason (née Lovely, born 20 June 1983) is an Australian weightlifter. Initially a discus thrower (she won a bronze medal at the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics), she won three silver medals at the 20 ...

and

Tracey Lambrechs Tracey Lambrechs (born 27 August 1985) is a former New Zealand weightlifter who competed in the +75 kg division. She won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and a silver at the 2015 Pacific Games. Australian Weightlifting Federation's chief executive, Michael Keelan, said it was unfair to other competitors. Hubbard qualified for the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, but an elbow injury during the competition forced her withdrawal from the event while leading the field. After the injury, Hubbard announced her probable retirement from weightlifting. Hubbard later returned to the sport, winning two gold medals at the

2019 Pacific Games The 2019 Pacific Games was the sixteenth edition of the Pacific Games. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The event was init ...

in Samoa. The decision to allow Hubbard to compete was subsequently criticised by the Samoa 2019 chairman, Loau Solamalemalo Keneti Sio, and Samoa's Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi. In 2020 qualification event, she won the gold medal in the women's +87kg event at the

Roma 2020 World Cup The Roma 2020 World Cup in weightlifting was held in Rome, Italy from 27 to 31 January 2020. It was also a qualification event for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Medal overview Men Women References {{reflist External linksResults

in Rome, Italy.

2020 Olympics

The

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC) let the

International Weightlifting Federation The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...

(IWF) set the requirements for transgender weightlifters to compete at the Olympics. Hubbard met all the requirements and on 21 June 2021, the

New Zealand Olympic Committee The New Zealand Olympic Committee (before 1994, The ''New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association'') is both the National Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games Association in New Zealand responsible for selecting athletes to re ...

(NZOC) confirmed that Hubbard had been selected for the New Zealand Olympic team to compete in the women's +87 kilogram category, becoming the oldest weightlifter to qualify for the games. This decision resulted in Hubbard becoming the first openly transgender athlete to be selected to compete in weightlifting at the

. Transgender athletes have been allowed to compete at the Olympics since 2004, with the current criteria in place since 2015. The inclusion of Hubbard was welcomed by supporters within the trans community as a step towards more inclusion at the Games. It was criticised by others. Some athletes, scientists and campaigners said that she had a biological advantage due to having gone through male puberty. Weightlifters including Anna Van Bellinghen and

Charisma Amoe-Tarrant Charisma Precious Amoe-Tarrant (born 26 May 1999) is a Nauru, Nauruan-born Australian Olympic weightlifting, weightlifter. She competed in the Weightlifting at the 2018 Commonwealth Games – Women's +90 kg, women's +90 kg event at the 2018 Comm ...

, who qualified in the same category, supported Hubbard's participation. There were public expressions of support from New Zealand Prime Minister,

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

, and sport minister

Grant Robertson Grant Murray Robertson (born 30 October 1971) is a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party who has served as the 19th deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2020 and the minister of Finance since 2017. He has served as Membe ...

. The IOC's Medical and Scientific Director

Richard Budgett Richard Gordon McBride Budgett OBE (born 20 March 1959) is a Great Britain, British Medical and Scientific Director of the International Olympic Committee. He won an Olympic Rowing (sport), rowing gold medal in Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics ...

, has advocated for more research into trans participation in sports. At 43 she was the fourth oldest weightlifter to compete at the Olympics and was seen as a medal contender. In front of a large contingent of media Hubbard struggled, with three failed snatch lifts, placing last in her group. Afterwards she thanked the IOC, IWF, NZOC and all her supporters in New Zealand for their encouragement and help throughout the competition. Later Hubbard hinted at retirement, saying that age had caught up with her.

Major results

Personal life

Hubbard's father is

Dick Hubbard Richard John Hubbard (born 18 November 1946) is a New Zealand businessman and politician, founder and former principal of Hubbard Foods in Auckland, and mayor of Auckland City from 2004 to 2007. He was elected mayor of Auckland City on 9 Octobe ...

, a former

Mayor of Auckland City The Mayor of Auckland City was the directly elected head of the Auckland City Council, the municipal government of Auckland City, New Zealand. The office existed from 1871 to 2010, when the Auckland City Council and mayoralty was abolished an ...

and the founder of

Hubbard Foods Hubbard Foods Ltd is a New Zealand manufacturer of breakfast cereals based in Auckland. It sells cereals under its ''Hubbard'' brand and private labels. Its founder is Dick Hubbard, who stepped down as CEO from 2004-2007 to serve as the mayor ...

. In 2017, Hubbard told an interviewer that she began participating in weight lifting when she was living as male because she hoped it would enable her to become masculine. Hubbard rarely gives interviews to the media. Commenting on criticism she receives for participating in women's weightlifting as a transgender athlete, Hubbard said in 2017, ;Medalbox notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Laurel 1978 births Living people New Zealand female weightlifters Transgender sportswomen New Zealand transgender people New Zealand LGBT sportspeople World Weightlifting Championships medalists Weightlifters at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand LGBT weightlifters Sportspeople from Auckland Weightlifters at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic weightlifters for New Zealand