Criticised Transgender Weightlifter Withdraws From CWG After Injury

Transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard has been making headlines at the Commonwealth Games tournament for all the wrong reasons. She was widely criticised by the Samoan team ahead of her competition at the event. They called her an "unfair" candidates in the women's 90kg-plus division.

To everyone’s shock, this New Zealander on Monday (April 9) withdrew her name from the game midway after suffering an arm injury. She was competing in snatch in the 90+kg division when the 40-year-old suffered an elbow injury. She then quit midway. Hubbard is believed to be the oldest of the 207 weightlifters at the Games.

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"It seems likely that I have ruptured a ligament," Hubbard told reporters. She had lifted 120kg in her first attempt, then missed at 127kg. She raised the weight another 5kg for her third attempt to break her personal best of 131kg. but was injured during the try out.

Hubbard had a 7kg advantage over Samoan Feagaiga Stowers while heading into the clean and jerk component. But after the injury, her dream of Commonwealth Games gold is now shattered.

"Until we have further scanning, we won't know the details. I have no regrets about the attempts I made, because I believe that to be true to sport, you really have to try to be the best that you can, and I'm happy with the decisions that were made," she said.

Hubbard used to be known by the name Gavin Hubbard until 2014 and even competed internationally as a man. According to critics, she has an unfair advantage in the games

She won two world silver medals in 2017 after being approved to compete as a woman by the International Olympic Committee. Later, she finished second in the women's super-heavyweights -- behind American Sarah Robles -- at the world championships in December.

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During the competition, Australian Weightlifting Federation chief executive Michael Keelan protested against the lifter's right to compete at the Commonwealth Games.

"Ultimately, it is our strong view that weightlifting has always been a gender-specific sport, male and female, not a competition among individuals of various levels of testosterone," Keelan wrote.

"Not everyone supports me or accepts me but there are people who do," a disappointed Hubbard said

"I hope all New Zealanders... would get behind one of their athletes that has gone through the pathway to achieve greatness, and within the rules of the sport," Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive David Grevemberg told reporters in Hubbard's support.

Seeing a cheering crowd during her contest, she claimed, "I feel just like (it was) a big embrace. I wanted to give them something that reflected the best I could do and my only real regret today was that I was unable to show them. It wouldn't be true if I said I wasn't unhappy at the moment but the nature of sport is that things don't always go your way. It is what it is. I think you have to be true to yourself and I hope in this case, that's what I have done."

Feature Image Credit: news.com.au

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