Former Olympic weightlifter Tracey Lambrechs says females are being informed to “be quiet” when they complain about the fairness of transgender New Zealand athlete Laurel Hubbard competing in women’s competitions.
Hubbard is on track to become the first transgender athlete to compete at an Olympics after the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) modified qualifying requirements for the Tokyo Games on Wednesday.
The 43-year-old still has to satisfy the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) of her fitness and performance standards before selection for the team but the prospect she will compete in Tokyo has already raised hackles.
“I’m quite disappointed, quite disappointed for the female athlete who will lose out on that spot,” Lambrechs, who gained a bronze medal for New Zealand on the 2018 Commonwealth Games, informed TVNZ.
“We’re all about equality for girls in sport however proper now that equality is being taken away from us.
“I’ve had feminine weightlifters come up to me and say, ‘what do we do? This isn’t truthful, what will we do?’. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we are able to do as a result of each time we voice it we get informed to be quiet.”
Hubbard, 43, competed in men’s weightlifting competitions before transitioning in 2013.
She has been eligible to compete in the Olympics since 2015, when the International Olympic Committee issued guidelines allowing any transgender athlete to compete as a woman provided their testosterone levels are below 10 nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months before their first competition.
Many scientists have criticised these guidelines, saying they do little to mitigate the biological advantages of those who have gone through puberty as males, including bone and muscle density.
In a statement on Thursday, the IOC said that while committed to inclusion, it was currently reviewing its guidelines to take into account the “perceived tension between fairness/safety and inclusion/non-discrimination”.
“The IOC is creating new steerage to assist be sure that athletes – no matter their gender identification and/or intercourse traits – can have interaction in protected and truthful competitors,” it said.
The exact criteria for transgender participation in elite sport is determined by the international federations and some have already adjusted the IOC guidelines for power events.
World Rugby banned transgender athletes from the elite women’s game last year for safety reasons.
The NZOC does not expect nomination and selection for its weightlifting team to happen until June but New Zealand’s Olympic weightlifting coach Simon Kent told TVNZ that Hubbard met the current IWF criteria.
“The rules are in place, that’s the playing field we’re playing in, so that’s how we’re going to move forward,” he mentioned.
Australia’s weightlifting federation sought to block Hubbard from competing on the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast however organisers rejected the transfer.
Rival weightlifters and coaches on the Commonwealth Games additionally complained. Hubbard suffered a doubtlessly career-ending damage whereas lifting within the 90+kg division.
Lambrechs completed fifth in that occasion after profitable bronze within the 75+kg division on the Glasgow Games 4 years earlier. She was thirteenth within the decrease weight division on the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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