No Snatch for Hubbard

Laurel Hubbard failed to complete any of his Snatch lifts during the Olympic Women’s +87kg weightlifting competition.

After seeing the onslaught of dribble coming from many so-called journalists, I decided to bestow upon the community this very honest blog regarding the New Zealander’s Olympic performance, and I do mean ‘performance.’

1. Hubbard is a man

Let’s all be clear on this - Laurel (Gavin) Hubbard is a man, and a man cannot be a woman, nor can a woman be a man. If someone cannot accept those facts, they are not as rational as they’d like to think.

A human being is an entire, biologically-constructed body, not bits & pieces, not hormone levels. Males and females are biologically different in thousands of ways.

Moving on…

2. The IOC

So, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) foolishly and recklessly decided to allow men to compete against women as long as a man’s testosterone level does not exceed the (current) cap of 10nmol/L (nanomoles per liter of blood).

However, “this level is about 500 per cent more than a female-born competitor.”

A testosterone level of 3nmol/L is considered to be the upper range for the average female, and testosterone levels of around 10nmol/L is considered to be low for the average male. Normal levels for females are between 0.3 and 2.4nmol/L. That leaves a gap of 7nmol/L between the cap set for men to compete against women and an abnormally high level of testosterone for the average female.

Furthermore, back in 2016, the IOC’s Medical and Scientific Commission was already aware that the IOC’s relatively new policy was unfair and that the testosterone level cap was set too high. The Commission was then considering setting the cap as low as 4nmol/L for sportsmen that had sex dysphoria or were autogynephilic and wanted to unfairly compete against women.

There’s more…

Just days ago, the IOC expressed second thoughts about its “transgender” policy.

“The International Olympic Committee has admitted that its current guidelines for transgender athletes are not fit for purpose…
In a notable shift, the IOC’s medical and science director, Dr Richard Budgett, said the science had moved on – and stressed that a new framework for sports would also focus on safety as well as fairness.”

The science “moved on,” hey? Mhm. You can bet your hind-end it has.

I would just like to say, “Thanks” to the IOC for its previous incompetence and disregard for fairness and safety within women’s Olympic sport.

3. Is Hubbard a cheat, regardless of the current rules?

What kind of dude barges into a women’s Olympic qualifying competition, takes the rightful spot of a woman, then goes to the Olympics only to completely and utterly (and quite possibly, intentionally) fail?

This kind of dude:

The same kind of dude that seemingly takes pleasure in dominating a women’s category and knocking out other women that deserved, but did not receive, a fair competition.

All of this and all of the IOC/testosterone madness is aside from the fact that a man, that knows he is a man, chose to go into a women’s competition. Hubbard is not confused, but tactical. He is seemingly doing this to offend, insult and mock; to take the piss out of sport, weightlifting, fairness and women’s rights.

If Hubbard wants to compete in weightlifting (or any sex-segregated sport), he needs to compete within male competitions. If he cannot hold his own, too bad. I see so many people mention this man’s feelings, yet there seems to be no concern whatsoever for the feelings of numerous women that have had to compete against him, particularly the women that have lost to him.

By the way, the definition of “cheat” is: “[to] gain an advantage over or deprive of something by using unfair or deceitful methods; defraud.”

The fact still stands that, no matter how low a man’s testosterone level is, he still retains advantages over female competitors.

Furthermore, when thinking critically, the advantages that allowed this old man to compete against young and fit women at the top of their sport (internationally) absolutely must be taken into consideration.

So, what do you reckon? Is Hubbard a cheat?

Remember, there should be a third woman on the podium, but he has taken her spot. Numerous competitors have spoken out, along with coaches and others involved.

4. He is a bad actor

While many theorise over whether or not he threw the competition, I watched the entire performance from him and I also decided to have a look at some of his older lifts to check out his usual form and compare it with his 2020 (actually 2021) Olympic performance. All I can say is, his acting skills are subpar.

Watching the linked video in this article, from when Hubbard qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, I see a much different competitor. Do you?

The man’s personal best is 131kg, yet he failed, on three different attempts, to lift 120/125kg.

Personally, I feel that he made it too obvious that he had no intentions of being competitive. He was tastelessly performing femininity the entire time, and, quite honestly, didn’t seem to care that he was at the Olympics at all. His form was poor; substantially below his norm, which was solidified through a successful juniors and an adult weightlifting career.

Alas, it is neither here nor there. Win or lose, acting or not, lower than average testosterone or not, Hubbard should never have been allowed to compete in the women’s weightlifting competition.

In closing

Some final thoughts:

We have sexed competitions for a reason, not just for shits & giggles, and every single (adult) sportsperson out there knows this.

There is no testosterone level low enough that makes it fair for a man to compete in a women’s competition. Men are not women.

If mediocre sportsmen can’t measure up well enough to compete in elite/professional level men’s sporting competitions, oh well. Men should never, ever be allowed to compete against women in a women’s sporting competition.

Finally, no matter what, if Hubbard is ‘earning’ a spot in a women’s competition, there is a woman that has missed out on doing so, and that’s just the obvious toll. The less obvious toll is the unknown amount of girls and women that will decide to stop competing in their respective sport so that they are not confronted with this absurd violation of their rights to safety, privacy, dignity and to a fair and principled competition.

Women say, “No. Thank you.”

The Olympic Women’s weightlifting competition wasn’t Hubbard’s first opportunity to circumvent fairness and rationale via women’s sport, but hopefully it will be his last.