Hubbard a ‘no-show’ after medal
Transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard has maintained her silence after finishing second in the women’s super-heavyweights behind local favourite Sarah Robles at the world championships in Anaheim, California.
It was the first time a New Zealander, male or female, had stood on the podium at the world championships, which have existed since 1891.
Hubbard walked off stage after the medals ceremony and declined to answer any questions yesterday.
She did not attend the postevent press conferences, went to straight to the anti-doping room and refused requests to return for media interviews, continuing her public silence since she first competed in international weightlifting last March.
‘‘She stayed away because she was embarrassed, probably,’’ said Tim Swords, the Texan who coaches Sarah Robles, who became the first world championships gold medallist for the USA in 23 years.
Hubbard, who was politely applauded by a small crowd at the Anaheim Convention Center, has been one of the talking points of the week in California.
The 39-year-old, who lived as a man for 35 years, was abused on social media before the championships, and many coaches were clearly unhappy with her presence.
When Swords posted a photo of Hubbard on social media in early November, with an innocuous comment about her presence at the world championships, it led to a number of abusive posts by others.
‘‘There was no controversy between the lifters about her presence here but there was between some of the coaching staffs,’’ Swords said.
‘‘When Sarah beat Hubbard in the snatch we were congratulated by multiple coaching staffs. Nobody wanted her to win.’’
Hubbard was eligible to compete because she complied with regulations on transgender athletes laid down by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), whose directives are followed by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
‘‘I don’t think anybody was impressed with the whole situation,’’ Swords said.
‘‘I hope the IOC do something about it because this is really going to hurt our sport in the long run. I’m not comfortable with it at agree with it, with somebody who was a man for so long, who has different hormones, different feelings.
‘‘It is not fair and we asked the IWF how come she can compete after only one year of showing her (testosterone) levels.
‘‘But everybody was friendly with her in the competition.’’
Hubbard smiled and joked with Robles on the platform throughout the medals ceremony, and had to squat to receive her silver medal because she was so much taller than her rivals.
She weighed more than six of her eight rivals but at 136kg was 10kg lighter than Robles, the heaviest in the field.
While many millions have watched the world championships on television, and the IWF’s videos have attracted more than two million viewers on facebook in the past four days alone, the attendance at the 2000-capacity arena was barely 200 when the competition started at 2pm on Tuesday, local time.
Robles, a Mormon, is from nearby San Diego but did not attract as many supporters as the Americans who competed in front of more than 1500 spectators at the weekend sessions.
There was a far bigger crowd for the men’s super-heavyweights at 5.30pm, boosted by a noisy contingent from the local Iranian community who had two of Iran’s biggest stars to cheer.
In four international contests Hubbard has won three times and now finished second in the biggest event of the year, though she was helped by the absence of rivals from nine nations banned for multiple doping offences.
Her total of 275kg would have earned her seventh place in the super-heavyweights, which were then +75kg, in the 2015 world championships, and sixth place in the Rio Olympics.
A 40-year-old woman from Ecuador won a medal on Monday, and if Hubbard is keen to continue beyond next year’s Commonwealth Games, in which she is ranked No 1 in her weight class, and can improve in her 40s she could be a contender at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.