Editorial
A petition calling for Laurel Hubbard to be removed from the women’s division in the Tokyo Olympics has been removed due to ‘hate speech’.
Launched on Change.org, the appeal argued that her entry ‘completely ignores the physical advantages in speed, height, stamina and strength that a male-born athlete will have’.
A representative for Defend Women’s Sports told the Mail Online: “It was flagged as hate speech.”
Watch as Laurel Hubbard’s participation in the Tokyo Olympics is debated in the clip below…
Before being pulled from the site, it managed to accumulate over 30,000 signatures, as many are concerned the 43-year-old will be at a significant advantage over her fellow competitors.
Although the petition’s organisers have appealed for it to be reinstated, Change.org has yet to respond.
Katherine Deves, a co-founder of Save Women’s Sports Australasia, has reportedly argued that Hubbard doesn’t deserve a spot at the Games.
She said: “Women have been able to have that competition for 16 years, and now you’ve got a male in there who [will] likely take a spot on the podium and take a place that should be going deservedly to a female competitor.”
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Anna Van Bellinghen, from Belgium, who is set to compete against Hubbard, recently branded the situation a ‘bad joke’.
The Olympian said: “I am aware that defining a legal frame for transgender participation in sports is very difficult since there is an infinite variety of situations and that reaching an entirely satisfactory solution, from either side of the debate, is probably impossible.
“However, anyone that has trained weightlifting at a high level knows this to be true in their bones: this particular situation is unfair to the sport and to the athletes.”
The New Zealand weightlifter is set to become the first-ever openly transgender athlete to compete in the Games.
She transitioned from male to female back in 2012. At the time, she was 35 years old and had previously competed in men’s weightlifting competitions.
Hubbard is set to take the stage tonight (August 2), and she is being tipped to take home the silver medal, following China’s Li Wenwen.
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