First transgender Olympic athlete
TRANSGENDER athlete Laurel Hubbard and Commonwealth Games champion David Liti head a five-strong New Zealand weightlifting team for the Tokyo Olympics.
It is the largest weightlifting team New Zealand has ever sent to an Olympics and all five athletes are Olympic debutants.
The other lifters are Kanah Andrews-Nahu, Megan Signal and Cameron McTaggart.
Hubbard will become the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics.
The 43-year-old former World Championship silver medalist has returned from what was thought to be a career-ending elbow injury at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
She finished sixth at the 2019 IWF World Championships in Thailand.
Hubbard has highlighted the challenges she has faced in her journey to the Olympic Games.
“I am grateful and humbled by the kindness and support that has been given to me by so many New Zealanders,” said Hubbard.
“When I broke my arm at the Commonwealth Games three years ago, I was advised that my sporting career had likely reached its end. But your support, your encouragement, and your aroha carried me through the darkness.
NZOC CEO Kereyn Smith says Hubbard will be welcomed to the New Zealand Team.
“As well as being among the world’s best for her event, Laurel has met the IWF eligibility criteria including those based on IOC Consensus Statement guidelines for transgender athletes. We acknowledge that gender identity in sport is a highly sensitive and complex issue requiring a balance between human rights and fairness on the field of play.”