The announcement that a New Zealand weightlifter will become the first trans athlete to compete at the Olympic Games this summer is an “incredibly positive” moment for the transgender community.

43-year-old Laurel Hubbard will compete in the women’s Super Heavyweight category in Tokyo.

Hubbard, who won silver at the 2017 women’s world championships, was in her mid-30s when she transitioned in 2012.

"Very positive"

On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Professor Donal O’Shea, a consultant endocrinologist who has spent more than three decades working with people who are transitioning, said the debate over her inclusion has been “very positive.”

“What we want is a society that will allow people who are transgender to transition personally and socially and they should have no limit to their ambition,” he said.

“A transgender athlete being selected to go to the Olympics is an incredibly positive thing. It wasn’t even being entertained 12, 13, 14 years ago when I was first being asked about it.”

Competitive advantage

He said individual sporting bodies have to make their own decisions regarding whether trans athletes have any competitive advantage.

“If you are a trans woman and you are taking oestrogen, that is going to weaken your muscles compared to a natal male but you will still have the physical size,” he said.

“The size of your body doesn’t change when you transition.

“So, the governing bodies have to decide on where their views are in terms of competitive advantage but the fact that the debate has moved on so we are discussing a transgender athlete representing their country and being welcomed and supported by all the athletes on her Olympic team – that is a massive change in the last 10 years and it is very positive.”

Personal ambitions

Professor O’Shea said international human rights and International Olympic Committee rulings support enabling transgender people to live without limits on their ambitions personally, sportingly and professionally – but noted that different sports will have different approaches.

“The first time I was asked this question was the women’s rugby world cup – it was around 2007 I think – and two Eastern European athletes had transitioned and were representing their country in the women’s world cup and in terms of height advantage, in the line-out, that was clear,” he said.

“The governing bodies have to make a decision on where that plays out but what is overwhelmingly positive is that you are now seeing a New Zealand athlete representing her country with the support of the athletics community and that is a big change and shows society, I think, beginning to discuss this.”

"Difficult and challenging journey"

He said it is “really important” that Hubbard’s inclusion in the Olympics does not become a polarising issue or become a ‘culture wars’ style debate.

He noted that, while there will debate about competitive advantage, it is important to remember that nobody transitions for personal gain.

“To say that people would consider transitioning for commercial or sporting gain, I am 35 years dealing with people who are transgender and it is a journey none of them would like to have undertaken,” he said.

“They just wished they didn’t have to go down what is a very difficult and challenging journey. So, to go through that journey and show that you can still be an elite and competitive athlete and an Olympian is an incredibly positive step for the transgender community to see."