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PM backs trans weightlifter Laurel Hubbard

Aotearoa's decision to select a transgender woman to compete in weightlifting, at the Toyko Olympics, has come under fire from the international sporting and media community, with media personalities such as Piers Morgan and Duncan Garner weighing in and Belgian weightlifter, Anna Vanbellinghen, calling the decision "like a bad joke.

But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern backed Hubbard as a member of Team NZ when she appeared this morning on Tapatahi though she admitted she had zero expertise or knowledge in weightlifting or where the threshold for gender tests should be.

“That's why we rely on the International Weightlifting Federation and the International Olympic Committee. They have set the rules for the sport and Laurel has been found to meet the criteria for competing. And so, look, my view is that given that someone has met the rules and therefore been selected under those rules, then they are a member of our team and I would hope that we would support members of our team. I know I certainly do,” Ardern says.

Laurel Hubbard at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast / Source: BBC

The decision to include Hubbard in the Tokyo Olympics was partly down to changes made to the International Olympic Committee transgender guidelines in 2015, where athletes who make the transition from male to female can compete in the women’s category without requiring surgery to remove their testes – provided their total testosterone level in serum is kept below 10 nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months.

“I think these people would say that’s simply not fair, you’ve either met the rules and the criteria or you haven’t. Laurel has and that includes testing 12 months before competing for instance,” Ardern says.

“I think it's incumbent on us just to follow the rules. That’s all we ask of anyone else.” - PM Jacinda Ardern

The 43-year-old weightlifter, who transitioned to female in 2012, will make history as the first trans athlete to compete at the Olympics. She has also garnered support from fellow Australian competitor Charisma Amoe-Tarrant.

“There’s been another debate that's been going on, where someone born a biological female has been told that her testosterone is too high to compete in athletics. So, for me, I'm just not in a position to be having a debate, or making judgment over what rules are appropriate I leave that to the experts, and then, you know, I think at that point it's upon us to support our members of the team who are legitimately chosen as members of the team.” Ardern says.