Weight lifted off Hubbard’s shoulders
Laurel Hubbard can pack her bags.
Australian Weightlifting Federation chief executive Mike Keelan might question Hubbard’s right to compete at April Commonwealth Games, on the Gold Coast. But the event’s governing body are more than happy to have the transgender weightlifter competing in the women’s competition.
Keelan raised eyebrows over the weekend, when a letter he’d penned to the International Weightlifting Federation questioning the right of transgender athletes to compete on the world stage, was obtained by media. Keelan argued the sport had always been ‘‘gender-specific’’ and ‘‘female-born athletes’’ were now being put at a disadvantage by lifters such as Hubbard.
It’s not a view shared by the Commonwealth Games Federation, who say there are no grounds to exclude Hubbard from the Gold Coast event.
‘‘The CGF works in close partnership with relevant International Federations (IFs) to establish qualification and eligibility criteria for athlete participation at the Commonwealth Games. It is the responsibility of each IF to determine and apply a sport-specific eligibility framework which aims to ensure safe, fair and universally consistent and applicable standards of competition,’’ the Commonwealth Games Federation’s director of communications and public affairs, Ben Nicholas, said in a statement to Stuff.
‘‘In the case of weightlifting, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has established its sports-specific eligibility criteria to be applied for Gold Coast 2018 which allows both male and female athletes that have qualified to compete.
‘‘The gender eligibility criteria currently applied by the IWF does not constructively discriminate against transgender athletes, and as a consequence their is no moral, ethical or legal basis to prevent transgender athletes from pursuing their sporting ambitions and competing in IWF sanctioned events, including the Commonwealth Games weightlifting competition.’’
Hubbard, 39, lived the first 35 years of her life as a man, and competed in elite men’s weightlifting competitions as Gavin Hubbard, before transitioning from male to female. She won two silver medals at last year’s world championships at the United States.
Olympic Weightlifting New Zealand president Garry Marshall has been among those to dismiss Keelan’s assertions.
‘‘Laurel has met all the requirements they’ve asked, which includes a monthly testosterone test and her testosterone levels are lower than a normal female. [Keelan is] playing games and trying to niggle us in order to give the Australian weightlifter in that category a bit of an edge,’’ Marshall said.