New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard

Tokyo Olympics: Laurel Hubbard to make history

Tonight she will become the first openly transgender athlete to compete in an Olympics, and her participation has been as divisive an issue as whether the Games should have even gone ahead during a global pandemic.

Hubbard was born male but changed her name eight years ago and underwent hormone therapy to transition before resuming weightlifting, a sport she abandoned more than a decade ago.

Laurel Hubbard set to become first transgender Olympic athlete

International weightlifting has rejigged its qualifying criteria for Tokyo because of limited competition over the past year due to Covid-19.

That means on current rankings Hubbard will qualify but she still needs to nominated by Weightlifting New Zealand then be officially selected by the New Zealand Olympic committee.