- First openly trans athlete eliminated from weightlifting
- Hubbard thanks IOC and New Zealand Olympic Committee
History was made on a Tokyo evening of superhuman strength and simmering tension as Laurel Hubbard, a 43‑year‑old weightlifter from New Zealand, became the first openly trans woman athlete to compete at an Olympic Games.
But Hubbard, who was born male but began identifying as a woman in 2013, buckled under pressure of the world’s gaze, as well as the weight of the huge bar she was trying to thrust over her head. Twice the barbell, which had 120kg and then 125kg on it, fell behind her after she had snatched it powerfully from the floor. On another occasion Hubbard got it off the ground and appeared to have made a successive lift, only for two of the three judges to rule she did not have full control.
