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Laurel HubbardNew Zealand transgender weightlifter
Date of Birth: 09.02.1978
Country:  New Zealand |
Content:
- Laurel Hubbard: A Pioneering Transgender Weightlifter
- Post-Transition Career and Controversy
- 2018 Commonwealth Games and Pacific Games
- Legal Issues and Public Statements
Laurel Hubbard: A Pioneering Transgender Weightlifter
Early Life and CareerLaurel Hubbard was born Gavin Hubbard in New Zealand in 1978. For the first 35 years of her life, she identified as male. Her father, Dick Hubbard, was a prominent businessman and politician who founded Hubbard Foods and served as Mayor of Auckland.
As a junior competitor, Laurel excelled in weightlifting, setting a New Zealand record in the 105+ kg category in 1998. However, her achievements were overshadowed after her transition to female.
Post-Transition Career and Controversy
In 2017, after transitioning, Laurel Hubbard competed in the 90+ kg category at the Pacific Games, winning gold with a lift of 123 kg in the snatch and 145 kg in the clean and jerk. This victory made her the first transgender woman to win an international weightlifting title for New Zealand.
Hubbard's victory sparked controversy, with some competitors arguing that she should not have been able to compete. Among her critics were Toafitu Perive, Tracey Lambrechs, and Michael Keelan, the CEO of the Australian Weightlifting Federation.
2018 Commonwealth Games and Pacific Games
In 2018, Hubbard qualified for the Commonwealth Games but was forced to withdraw due to an elbow injury. At the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, she won two gold medals, again facing criticism from Keneti Sio, Samoa's Minister of Education, Sport and Culture, and Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi.
Legal Issues and Public Statements
Hubbard has remained largely silent about the criticism she has faced. In one statement, she said, "I'm not going to stand here and tell you that it doesn't hurt. You'd have to be a robot if you weren't at all affected by some of the things that have been said. But I can't control what other people think, what they feel, what they believe. I'm not even going to try."
In January 2019, Hubbard pleaded guilty to reckless driving causing injury after an accident in which the driver of another vehicle sustained a serious spinal injury. She was disqualified from driving for one month and paid full reparations.
A court order initially suppressed Hubbard's name to protect her privacy as she prepared for the Tokyo Olympics. However, the order was lifted in July 2019 after a request from Stuff Limited, a New Zealand media company.
Hubbard has expressed uncertainty about whether the world is ready for a transgender weightlifter. She hopes, however, that people will "just take it for what it is and move forward."
