The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has revised its qualifying requirements for Olympic selection due to COVID-19 after a meeting. It has changed the prerequisite of athletes requiring to attend only four competitions instead of the previous six, which puts New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard on her way to becoming the first transgender athlete to compete at an Olympics.
Hubbard, 43, has competed in men’s weightlifting competitions before the transition in 2013. She had met the eligibility criteria to compete in the Olympics since 2015 when the International Olympic Committee issued guidelines allowing any transgender athlete to compete as a woman provided her testosterone levels are below ten nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months before her first competition.
“The NZOC can confirm that revised International Federation qualification systems are very likely to see a number of New Zealand weightlifters, including Commonwealth Games transgender athlete Laurel Hubbard, allocated an IF quota spot for Tokyo 2020,” the NZOC said in a statement.
