IOC praise Hubbard

[Theeyeballsinthesky]

www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/29/ioc-praises-weightlifter-laurel-hubbard-ahead-of-transgender-athletes-olympic-debut

They really are a bunch of cunts aren’t they

@IvyTwines2

Maybe everyone should just identify as a gold medallist and we can scrap the whole thing?

I just FEEL like I am SO good at all sports (despite not physically being good at sports) that I think I should get a whole host of PLATINUM medals just for me.

@andyoldlabour

IS0D0RA

"The athletes CANT take action. They CANT speak out. They CANT refuse to compete .

They are BARRED a form doing any of these things by their contracts."

Not true. The Italian athletes have spoken out about it. I think it is time for the women to simply not compete, let the clock run down, just stand there and when the time limit has passed, just walk away and let the next athlete do exactly the same thing. If enough athletes do this then the organising bodies will be forced to do something.
Nobody in their right mind thinks this is logical or morally right.

Women's hands are tied behind them. They're not allowed to speak out, they're afraid to speak out, there are consequences for naming or even showing you're aware of your own oppression, never mind arguing with it.

I honestly think the time is going to come where female people in the UK are going to have to start reflecting on whether it is fair to pay the same taxes if they are subordinated in their access to sport, excluded from spaces and resources and facilities because of subordinated status to male people, subordinated status actively promoted in universities and education....

The male people who are benefitting from all this can pay for their privileges themselves. Mass withholding of taxes on the grounds of no taxation without representation (and no equal taxation without equality) may get the message across.

Hubbard wins by a large margin: Woman loses medal: women lose a representative.
Hubbard wins by a small margin:Woman loses medal. Women's sports undermined.
Hubbard loses by a small margin: Women's sports undermined.
Hubbard loses by a large margin: Women's sports undermined: Gender ideology bolstered.
Hubbard throws it: women's sports undermined.

There is no good here. No one wins.

Except the cheat,. obviously.

It is easy for IOC to praise Hubbard as they are unlikely to win. When competing against men when in their twenties, this athlete was only middle of the roadand nowhere near Olympic status. Now in their forties and with an injury, which should have been career ending, a win is unlikely, especially as the Chinese have a lifter who is streaks ahead of the competition , lifting weights unheard of before in this category.

Whose the Chinese lifter please?

But women have to be kind. Be kind. BE KIND

This has really soured the Olympics for me. I probably knew there was some corruption and cheating in sports and the IOC wouldn’t be exempt but I just struggle to maintain an interest knowing what an awful organisation they are now.

*“Everyone agrees transgender women are women.”"

Also:

Everyone agrees that the earth is flat.

I think women should refuse to compete against these athletes too. Yes, it would effectively mean not competing in the Olympics that year, ad maybe never, but that's the direction of travel anyway. Sometimes it's important to act with solidarity to make a point.

“Everyone agrees transgender women are women.”

I think that confuses a lot of people into thinking we're talking about actual, born female, vagina-ed women, who have transitioned.

Did they say "it takes balls to do what she's done"?

As it is designed to. Mil gets transmen and transwomen muddled up. I doubt she's the only one.

"Trans women are who they say they are" from Emma Watson springs to mind. Not entirely convinced
A) she knows what she's talking about
B)her fans would support her if she was more clear.

She certainly went down in my estimation. But it's easy to see her feminism isn't very robust looking back at her speeches.

She thinks the height of equality is not having to wear a corset in a princess film

I would be fine with trans woman competing in women’s sport if it was equally easy for trans men to compete with the men, with some sort of handicap system to allow for female physiology. Then it would actually be fair. Interesting that they’re not doing this isn’t it?

@DillonPanthersTexas

I hope Hubbard absolutely smashes it out the park, wins by a huge margin, just to show the unfairness of it all.

Me too.

And that raises another issue: it is not in the best interests of TW athletes to perform too well against natal women.

They are still going to perform to the best of their abilities at elite level though (otherwise they won’t stay at elite level).

Li Wenwen is the Chinese 87+ lifter - world record holder. Hubbard won’t get anywhere near.

@ScaryHairyMcClary

I would be fine with trans woman competing in women’s sport if it was equally easy for trans men to compete with the men, with some sort of handicap system to allow for female physiology. Then it would actually be fair. Interesting that they’re not doing this isn’t it?

Is a self identified trans man (with uterus and acceptable testosterone) allowed to compete in women's sport? Is there a rule "must claim to be female", that seems to be the actual rule to be fair.

That would be interesting explaining how a man won a women's event.

The Americans wield huge influence via the money they put in for things like TV rights and sponsorship.

There is very real unhappiness across Europe about the limited TV rights national broadcasters have been able to obtain, and frustration from sports fans about the poor quality of the coverage and commentary from the Discovery channel owned Eurosports. (Clare Balding and the BBC team are in Salford whilst US has been able to flood Tokyo with commentators.) The point of the Olympics is to give minority sports their place in the spotlight, yet fans of these sports have not been able to watch. There is also suspicion that the US have influenced the timing of popular events to best fit with US time zones, leaving others to compete at weird hours or the midday sun. One reason why few Olympic records are being broken in swimming, where finals are taking place in evening rather than the morning (or vv. I am afraid I am not the sports mad person in our household.)

An American push on the acceptance of gender theory is another issue. I wonder whether there is much push back from nations such as China or Russia, who both have some history of doping and who may not mind the blurring of the rules.

The end result of the US money buying influence is a dilution of the Olympic ideal. Though also an increase in frustration elsewhere at the way the US push their cultural imperialism.

@Beowulfa

I've been wondering what Hubbard would feel if they turned up to the Womens final and all the other competitors were also mediocre middle aged males, unconvincingly identifying as women. From a sporting perspective this would probably be more competitive, but would it be what they actually want in terms of validation?

It will have to get to this, sadly. I don’t understand how this competition has any real meaning for him, he knows he is cheating.

And while Budgett appeared to accept that Hubbard had an advantage from going through male puberty, he also stressed that inclusivity was an important factor too.

Oh yeaaaaaah, great inclusivity.

By including a potential 0.1% of the population, they're excluding a potential 51% of the population.

Soooooooo inclusive.

Absolutely incredible.

If the IOC asked the public in every country competing today, they’d find almost nobody agrees that TWAW. Almost nobody.

Who or what is making them take this position, in direct contravention of the views of almost the entire world?

Budgett appeared to accept that Hubbard had an advantage from going through male puberty

So, it would be fine for all the women taking part to simulate a male puberty, too, by taking testosterone through their teens? They could stop long enough in advance to meet the regulations.

(Not seriously suggesting this as a plan, but the total absence of logic maddens me.)

One reason why few Olympic records are being broken in swimming, where finals are taking place in evening rather than the morning (or vv. I am afraid I am not the sports mad person in our household.)

It is the other way round - swimmers did have notice and have been able to adapt training to try and account for the morning finals, but it still makes a difference - slower times and more unpredictable.

Precedent was set in Beijing when Phelps was expected to get 8 golds and the finals schedule was built around US peak evening viewing times.

And while Budgett appeared to accept that Hubbard had an advantage from going through male puberty, he also stressed that inclusivity was an important factor too.

I have a condition that means that I can't lift heavy weights, but I'd like to be included too

Is a self identified trans man (with uterus and acceptable testosterone) allowed to compete in women's sport? Is there a rule "must claim to be female", that seems to be the actual rule to be fair.

No such rule. All trans athletes competing in Tokyo are competing in the female category. As long as transmen are not taking testosterone ,they are free to participate in the female category as they all have female bodies. Male bodied athletes can compete in the female category , if they lower their testosterone for a year to a level 10 times higher than the average female leve,l in eg weightlifting, and 5 times the average level in athletics.

Did any of you see the mixed medley swimming relay?

Anyone who saw that can't possibly ever think that having male competitors in female sport is fair.