Camilla Long today
A power jerk in the weightlifting
Why is Laurel Hubbard, a 39-year-old male-to-female transgender athlete allowed to compete in the female weightlifting category at the Commonwealth Games in Australia?
The mere facts beggar belief. Hubbard, a Kiwi formerly named Gavin, is so muscular she has beaten every other woman in her category by 19kg. While the average age for success in this sport is 24, Hubbard is 15 years older than that. Games officials have claimed that her levels of testosterone are acceptable for competing; human rights campaigners have insisted Hubbard be treated on merit and that “participation in sport and physical activity” is a human right.
What about the human rights of other contestants not to be beaten by someone who, as an expert put it, has always had the advantage of a bigger heart, bigger lungs, bigger bones, more overall body power? Why is it OK for Kiwis to present a competitor who has in every way modified her body, but not for the doping Russians? I cannot see the difference between Hubbard and, say, the East German shot putter Heidi (now Andreas) Krieger, who at least had no idea the pills her coach gave her weren’t “loffley liddle vidamins”, but anabolic steroids.