Laurel hardly
Laurel Hubbard is a transgender weightlifter from New Zealand, who competed as a man until 2013. Hubbard, ranked 17 in the world, will become the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympic Games.
Leaving aside the controversy surrounding transgender women competing in women's sports, this baffled me:
Several of her higher-ranked rivals will be missing from the Tokyo Games because only one athlete is allowed per country in each category.
So, even if she wins, she's not necessarily the best, since she didn't have to compete against all of those rivals who're ranked higher. I was under the impression that the Olympic Games pitted the best in the world against each other. All of which makes me wonder, more than ever, what's the bloody point? Other than a few baubles, that appear to be even more meaningless now.
While Hubbard may be ranked only
17 in the world, she's also 43 years old, considerably older than other women athletes in her sport. I wonder if her relative staying power
is at all related to her pre-transition anabolic dividend? Hmmmm.