Laurel Hubbard has officially been eliminated from the 2020 Toyko Olympics..Hubbard, a New Zealand-born male-to-female transgender weightlifter failed three times to lift the required weight..Hubbard made headlines for becoming the first openly transgender athlete to compete in the Olympics. Hubbard also happened to be the oldest competitor in this year’s weightlifting category at 43..Fellow athlete Quinn, a Canadian soccer player, joins Hubbard in the 2021 Games being openly transgender/non-binary as well. Unlike Quinn, who goes for gold along with their team in women’s soccer, Hubbard will not be going on to win any medals from this year’s Games..Hubbard’s Olympic debut lasted barely ten minutes as she failed to complete her first three efforts to lift in the +87 kg category. Hubbard seemingly overbalanced on her first lift of 120 kg, taking the bar behind her head and having it fall back behind her shoulders onto the ground. In dropping the weight her first lift was disqualified..On Hubbard’s second attempt of 125 kg she cleared the bar above her head successfully, but the lift was ruled invalid by referees. Finally, Hubbard’s third attempt saw an almost identical situation to her first, as she lifted the weight over her head but dropped in behind her..Jackie Conroy is a reporter for the Western Standard.jconroy@westernstandardonline.com
