Laurel Hubbard isn’t as “unbeatable” as her detractors have claimed.
The transgender weightlifter has been forced to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games after suffering an injury on Monday. Hubbard, who was representing New Zealand, was the favorite to win gold in the 90kg-plus division.
Instead, she’ll leave the Games with no medal.
“I have no regrets about the attempts that I made, because I believe that to be true to sport you really have to try to be the best that you can,” Hubbard said after the competition, according to Stuff. ”And I’m happy with the decisions we’ve made.”
As Outsports has said over and over again, transgender athletes face many obstacles en route to winning medals. Physical and emotional hurdles have to be cleared, and they are just as susceptible to injury as anyone else. While representatives from Australia and Samoa have cried foul at Hubbard’s participation, hopefully they will see that there is more at work than simply gender identity
We hope Hubbard is able to recover quickly and continue to aim for the 2020 Summer Olympics.