Transgender Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard Named Sportswoman Of The Year In NZ

Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weightlifter, has been named sportswoman of the year 2021. She’s the first trans winner of the award in its 113th-year history, celebrating sporting greatness. In particular, the title was awarded by the University based in Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand at the Blues Awards. 

Laural Hubbard, who competed as a female in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, is crowned “Sportswoman of the Year.” 

Reacting to milestone 43-Year-Old Hubbard, in a statement to the Otago Daily Times, claimed she was grateful for all of the support and kindness received from the teaching staff and students at Otago University. She added: “It is not possible for athletes to compete at the Olympic level without the encouragement and Aroha of friends, family, and supporters.”

Hubbard is the first transgender winner of the award in its 113-year history celebrating sporting greatness.

The Queenstown athlete has dedicated the award to everyone who has been part of her Olympic journey. Ms. Hubbard had transitioned in 2012 and qualified for the Olympic Games after the International Olympic Committee changed its rules to permit women to compete if their testosterone levels are below a certain threshold. 

The 43-year-old was the first trans  “woman” to qualify for the women’s 87+ kg weightlifting at the Olympics.

So Ms. Hubbard officially became the first openly transgender woman to compete in a solo event at the Olympics. She qualified for the women’s 87+kg weightlifting at the Tokyo Olympic Games earlier this year. Unfortunately, she failed to make a successful lift in the snatch and, as a result, was eliminated from the global event. 

But unfortunately, Hubbard was eliminated after failing to make a successful lift in the snatch.

Before transitioning, Ms. Hubbard, the daughter of ex-Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard, had competed for New Zealand as a 20-year-old Junior male athlete. During this time, she claimed to have taken up weightlifting as a boy to appear more masculine before the pressure of living as a man became unbearable. 

However, the Queenstown athlete dedicated her award to everyone who has been part of her Olympic journey.

In 2017, Hubbard had amazed the world when she took a 16-year hiatus from the sport and winning two World Championship silver medals in the 90kg class in California. Following the victory, the athlete insisted she wasn’t here to change the world but instead wanted to be herself.