No Olympic Laurel

Following an extensive examination of the science, plus sobering facts such as that the expected American silver or bronze medallist Sarah Rubles is assumed to be retiring after these Games because she is 11 years younger than Laurel Hubbard, comes this:

Who’s missing from Tokyo 2020? There are only 14 places available per Olympic weight category. Hubbard has taken one of these female spaces. This means a woman has lost out on her place to make room. That woman’s name is Roviel Detenamo. She’s from Nauru, a small island in the Pacific Ocean. 

Weightlifting is a big deal in Nauru. Despite a population of only 10,000, this tiny country has produced a total of 10 Olympians; all except two have been weightlifters. This should have been Roviel’s first Olympics. She would have been the fourth Nauruan women to ever become an Olympian, and the first ever heavyweight woman. The IOC’s transgender inclusion policy meant she never made it to Tokyo.

 

What’s fair? Who should take that coveted female place at the Olympics? Inclusion for Laurel means exclusion for Roviel. This is what trans inclusion in women’s sport means. Females get excluded from their own category. Who would you say no to? Laurel or Roviel? Who really belongs in the female weightlifting?

Whether Hubbard gets a medal or not, women have already paid the price. A woman lost her Olympic dream. She’ll be watching the competition from home instead of being at Tokyo 2020.

Say her name. Roviel Detenamo. The 18-year-old who is not at the Olympics because someone the same age as I am has been able to take her place due to being the same biological sex as I am.