Laurel Hubbard and the Transgender People in Sports

Download or read book Laurel Hubbard and the Transgender People in Sports written by John Robert and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-08-06 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transgender athletes' involvement in competitive sports is a contentious issue, especially when athletes who have gone through male puberty are very effective in women's sports, or pose a considerable injury risk to female-by-birth competitors. Resistance to trans women competing in women's sports usually focuses on physiological characteristics like height and weight, or performance metrics like speed and strength-and whether long-term testosterone suppression can sufficiently reduce any natural advantages of male body characteristics within a given women's sport. Sport has traditionally been considered as a male realm. The growth of women's sports initially softened the male vision of sport, which was then challenged by the eventual acceptance of LGBT athletes. The advent of trans athletes, many of whom dispute the culturally accepted binary gender norms of male and female, marked a third departure from convention. Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand has been selected to compete in the Olympics for the first time, in a contentious decision. After qualification rules were recently amended, she was selected for the women's weightlifting squad for Tokyo 2020. Before coming out as transgender in 2013, she competed in men's events. Critics claim Hubbard has an unfair edge, while others contend that the Games should be more inclusive. We focus on the life (biography) of the first transgender athlete to compete in the Olympics, as well as the history of transgender athletes in sports, in this book.