Transgender Kiwi weightlifter gets green light to compete in Gold Coast games
AUSTRALIA has called for a champion transgender woman weightlifter to be banned from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games because she has an unfair advantage over female rivals.
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AUSTRALIA has called for a champion transgender woman weightlifter to be banned from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games because she has an unfair advantage over female rivals.
Australian Weightlifting Federation CEO Michael Keelan fired off a protest letter to Games officials after New Zealander Laurel Hubbard — formerly a successful male weightlifter named Gavin — was granted permission to compete in the women’s event.
Officials have ruled Hubbard has met international guidelines after undergoing at least 12 months of hormone therapy and recording low levels of testosterone in tests.
Hubbard, 39, who began transitioning four years ago, upset some fellow competitors after winning a silver medal in the women’s 90kg-plus division at the world championships and gold at an international event in Melbourne in 2017.
As a male weightlifter in 1998, Hubbard was a New Zealand national junior record holder in the 105kg division.
In his letter, obtained by The Saturday Telegraph, Mr Keelan warned that male weightlifters had a significant advantage over women, even after transitioning.
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“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,” he wrote.
The letter, sent to the International Olympic Committee, the Commonwealth Games Federation and the Australian Olympic Committee, asked for the rules to be changed.
“In our respectful view, the current criteria and its application has the potential to devalue women’s weightlifting and discourage female-born athletes from pursuing the sport at the elite level in the future,” Mr Keenan wrote.
“The International Weightlifting Federation should clarify why the current criteria are considered appropriate, adequate and fair, otherwise an alternative to the status quo should urgently be considered.”
Critics of the international guidelines say trans women can benefit from larger frames and the retention of muscle for up to 15 years after changing gender.
Australian weightlifter Deborah Acason, who will have to compete against Hubbard on the Gold Coast, said Games organisers should have a tough and uncomfortable conversation about transgender athletes.
“For the future of women’s sports, we need to talk about it,” Acason said.
“A man is able to undergo a process of lowering hormone levels and then they are allowed to compete so that’s the rules at the moment.
“It is obviously going to be an issue in every sport but weightlifting is strength related and one sport we need to look at.
“This is a massive game changer when you think about other kids and other juniors you get into the sport.”
Commonwealth Games Federation president Louise Martin said there was no “moral, ethical or legal basis” to stop transgender athletes from pursuing their ambitions and competing in IWF sanctioned events.