The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard will be the first biological man falsely claiming to a woman that will be allowed to compete in women’s events at the Olympics.
At 43, Hubbard will be the oldest person competing in the women’s competition and of course, the only man competing against women. ESPN noted:
Hubbard competed in men’s weightlifting competitions before transitioning eight years ago at the age of 35. She set national records in junior competition and had a best, combined snatch and clean and jerk total of 300 kilograms (661 pounds).
…The IOC policy specifies conditions under which those who transition from male to female are eligible to compete in the female category.
Among them is that the athlete has declared that her gender identity is female and that the declaration cannot be changed, for sporting purposes, for a minimum of four years.
The athlete must also demonstrate that her total testosterone level is below a specific measurement for at least 12 months prior to her first competition.
Hubbard met those standards.
The IOC policy also states: “the overriding sporting objective is and remains the guarantee of fair competition.”
Yet some within the weightlifting community argue the policy does not guarantee fair competition. The determining criteria — a maximum reading of 10 nanomoles per liter of testosterone — is as least five times more than a biological woman.
First of all, the whole idea that the only difference between a man and a woman is their level of testosterone is not just completely unscientific, it’s laughable. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with hormones, biology, or even sports can tell you this isn’t true.
Of course, that doesn’t matter because we’re all supposed to pretend that Laurel Hubbard and other people like him are female to keep from hurting his feelings. What about the feelings of the woman in New Zealand who trained all her life to go to the Olympics and was beaten out by a man? What about the feelings of the other female Olympics who trained all their life to be the best they could be at women’s weightlifting, only to potentially lose an Olympic medal to a man? What it all comes down to is that if you really believe gender doesn’t matter in the Olympics, then you should be calling for the IOC to combine the men’s and women’s events. If you believe that gender does matter, then you should want to leave Laurel Hubbard out of the women’s events.
Anyway, I think New Zealand winning a gold in weightlifting is probably a solid bet…
John Hawkins is the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know. You can find him on Parler here and on Twitter here.
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