Laurel Hubbard knows it, she has already made history. The New Zealand weightlifter, who came out trans in 2012, was the first transgender athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.
“The Kiwi Laurel Hubbard made history”, greeted him New Zealand Herald Monday August 2. “Although she didn’t go very far, Laurel Hubbard has opened up an unprecedented path for trans athletes”, enthusiastic for his part the pure player LGBT + American Them.
“His presence brings visibility to the cause and gives role-models, people with whom young people can identify”, rejoices with West France Eric Arassus, president of the Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation (FSGL), which brings together 65 associations in France and more than 6,000 sportsmen and women.
If Laurel Hubbard couldn’t lift a bar during the over 87 kg competition, “Submerged” through emotion, and announced his retirement from sports on Wednesday August 4, at age 43, its presence in Tokyo marks a turning point in the inclusion of transgender athletes in international competitions.
Criteria for participating in the Olympics, evolution of the rules… We answer four questions around this historic moment.
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What are the rules for participating in the Olympics?
Since the Athens Games in 2004, trans athletes have been allowed to compete in the Olympics, but no country has yet taken the plunge. In 2015, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) clarified that it would allow transgender women to participate in women’s events without having to have sex reassignment surgery, if they respected the prescribed testosterone level.
Indeed, to claim a place at the Olympic Games, transgender athletes must respond positively to certain criteria established by the body in 2015, and unchanged since. The IOC thus indicates that a transgender or hyperandrogenic athlete (an excess of male hormones in a woman) must meet several conditions: declare themselves as being a woman and not have a testosterone level exceeding 10 nanomoles per liter of blood over a period of twelve months preceding the first competition. A controlled rate for transgender people, women and intersex people, but not cisgender people (refers to a person whose gender identity matches the sex they were born with).
If Laurel Hubbard was able to participate in the Olympics, it is because she fulfilled all these pre-established conditions. Above all, like any other athlete, she achieved the Olympic selection criteria in her discipline. The New Zealander, vice-world champion over 90 kg in 2017, was 16th in the world before her participation in the Olympics.
Why has his presence sparked so much debate?
The New Zealander was in the nails for her participation in the Games. However, his presence has given rise to heated controversy.
“I’m happy to speak to a transgender person the way they want, but I wouldn’t like to have to compete against them. It wouldn’t be fair ”, for example said the American Martina Navratilova, former tennis champion and activist for LGBTQ + rights.
The debate revolves around the fear of seeing progress in women’s sport set back: some believe that transgender athletes have an advantage over their rivals due to different physical abilities. And would prefer to see the birth of a separate category for transgender athletes, who would compete together.
“The New Zealand athlete was eliminated quickly, which shows that she does not perform better than her competitors, says Eric Arassus. There is no subject for us. Scientific documents must be produced to demonstrate this, just as the World Anti-Doping Agency must (BUT) and the French Anti-Doping Agency (ALFD) are working on this issue because it is not doping. “
The IOC itself has acknowledged that Laurel Hubbard’s presence at the Olympics raises legitimate questions as to whether the athlete has – in the jargon used by the IOC – “A disproportionate competitive advantage”.
The lack of data on the physical capacities of transgender people compared to those of cisgender people as well as the very low number of sportsmen and women concerned does not allow us today to give a frank answer to these questions.
“I am not totally deaf to the controversy aroused by my participation in these Olympics. And I want to thank the IOC for its commitments on the principles of Olympism and for reaffirming that sport is open to all, inclusive and accessible ”, Laurel Hubbard responded to the controversy at the end of her competition, quoted by AFP.
READ ALSO. Do trans athletes have an advantage over their opponents?
Have there been any precedents for transgender sportswomen in major competitions?
Caytlin Jenner, the American decathlon specialist in the 1970s, gold medalist at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, came out trans in 2015. The 1996 two-seater canoe Olympic champion, Sandra Forgues, did not make her appearance. coming out trans only after giving up sports and taking hormone therapy in 2016, at the age of 47.
The controversy surrounding Laurel Hubbard’s presence at the Games is reminiscent of the case of Caster Semenya, who is not a transgender athlete, but hyperandrogenic. The South African athlete, double Olympic champion and triple world champion in the 800 meters, has been fighting for more than ten years with the International Athletics Federation, World Athletics, who considers her as “Biologically man”. The 2019 regulations on hyperandrogenic athletes requires him to lower his testosterone level before he can participate in an international competition of the 400 m per mile (1.609 m).
She was thus prevented from participating in certain races because she refused this treatment. This was the case at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, in 2019, or this year at the Olympic Games, where she was banned from running the 800m and 1,500m by the World Athletics Medical Commission, and forced to fall back on the 5,000 m, a race for which she did not qualify.
Her performances always trigger the same debate: should she run with men rather than women, when she is indeed a woman?
Are changes on the part of the IOC planned?
The IOC’s opinion, dated 2015, has not changed since, despite the various controversies. According to information from The team , however, it should be modified in the coming months: the IOC should send the International Federations a new framework to help each of them adopt its own legislation on transgender women. “It’s different from one sport to another and, sometimes, from one discipline to another in the same sport, explained Christian Klaue, director of communication and public affairs of the IOC, in comments reported by the sports daily. The conclusion we have come to here is that the IOC will not be able to put in place a single rule. ” Each discipline will therefore apply its own rules.
“It’s a very good thing, we hope that the positions will move forward, s’enchante Eric Arassus. Our goal is to strive for greater inclusion. Perhaps in Paris, in 2024, it will not be one, but two, three or four transgender athletes who will be represented. “
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