Laurel Hubbard has shattered records at the World Masters Games, outdoing even her own New Zealand national records. Weighing in at 132kg she took out new records snatching 131kg in the 30-39 (90kg plus) division and 149kg in the clean and jerk on Saturday at the AUT Millennium. Olympic Weightlifting NZ high performance manager Simon Kent told the NZ Herald that a transgender professional athlete and the questions that some raise regarding her physicality is a new issue for society to have a conversation about. “It really challenges how people respond to it - it’s not something that is openly discussed and talked about. “As an organisation, we’re tremendously proud of what Laurel’s doing. She’s tremendously courageous to do what she’s doing.” In March, Hubbard made history at the Australian International weightlifting event, setting four unofficial national records and becoming the first transgender woman to represent New Zealand in the sport.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 2nd May 2017 - 11:44am