Andrew Johnsen: Hubbard lifts can of worms

Laurel Hubbard made a huge stride for the LGBTQ community and has stood strong in the face of adversity. Photo/news.com.au

I am completely stumped. Never has a controversial sporting topic floored me quite like this one.

New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard won the women's over-90kg division at the Australian Invitational in Melbourne to equal parts pleasure and disdain.

Hubbard, a transgender athlete, has gone through a tremendous amount of struggle to get to the point where she is now who she truly identifies as.

I have nothing but respect for what she has gone through and the mental fortitude and bravery that she displayed but there's a weird feeling of both pride and uneasiness in the pit of my stomach.

The pride of seeing someone overcome adversity to succeed is there but her competing - and winning - against females has left me, and probably a lot of other people uneasy.

It isn't from the standpoint of transgender people not being afforded equal rights in terms of competing in sports, which is something I believe in.

It is the idea of fair competition and a potentially unfair advantage that splits me.

Hubbard competed at a national level as a male weightlifter when she was Gavin Hubbard. Her transition to becoming female, it is understood, occurred in her thirties.

She is now 39 and meets all the IOC requirements to compete against cisgender females. So from a legal standpoint have at it. There aren't any issues in that regard.

To compete, a transgender female athlete is required only to declare her gender as "female" and have testosterone levels comparable to or below those of cisgender women.

A cisgender person is someone whose gender corresponds to their assigned sex.

She meets those guidelines and by rights should continue to be allowed to compete.

However there is the issue of how being a male, genetically, for over 30 years has affected Hubbard's performance. Some of her peers have questioned this.

Fellow weightlifter and two-time Olympian Deborah Acason said, "If I was in that category I wouldn't feel like I was in an equal situation. I just feel that if it's not even why are we doing the sport?"

Equality in sport is a tough one as, realistically, there is no 'even playing field'.

But the fact that she has trained and competed as a male athlete for all those years will have surely given her some type of advantage.

Whether it is a competitive advantage like Michael Phelps having incredibly long arms or a genetic advantage such as Lance Armstrong's blood doping is not for me to determine.

Also, does this open the door for transgender All Blacks and Silver Ferns?

Compared to rugby and netball, weightlifting is barely noticeable in the public eye.

Will people accept a transgender netballer or rugby player? What would be the requirement for transgender athletes to qualify?

This isn't the first such instance of transgender females winning competitions and it won't be last.

The likes of 1977 US Open female doubles tennis champion Renee Richards, who was one of the first professional athletes to identify as transgender, show there is a predicate in the topic.

They were equally lauded and lampooned, something that may await Hubbard but are ultimately known as successful athletes.

Maybe my uneasiness about Hubbard's victory is unfounded and unwarranted. Not having to experience anything like the prejudice towards the transgender community make have skewed my feelings.

Regardless, until we know for certain whether transgender athletes have an unfair advantage over cisgendered athletes, she should continue to be allowed to compete with everyone else. But is that fair?