Trans Athlete Wins Two Gold Weightlifting Medals At 2019 Pacific Games

Over the weekend, a man who identifies as a woman won two gold medals at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.

Laurel Hubbard, 41, formerly Gavin Hubbard, “won two gold medals and a silver in the three heavyweight categories, for women weighing more than 87 kilograms, or 192 pounds, finishing first in the snatch-lift and combined categories and second in the clean-and-jerk,” The Washington Times reported.

CaldronPool.com reported, “In second place was Samoa’s 18-year-old weightlifter Feagaiga Stowers, who won her nation’s second gold medal last year after Hubbard was forced to withdraw due to an elbow injury.” Stuff.co added, “Lifting for gold comes after revelations that Hubbard was charged with careless driving causing injury after her vehicle fishtailed on a sharp bend near Queenstown on October 24, 2018. Her car hit a vehicle carrying an Australian couple in their 60s. The male driver spent nearly two weeks in Dunedin Hospital and needed major spinal surgery on returning to Australia.”

Stuff also reported that Hubbard sought the permanent suppression of his name after the accident, and a judge ruling in February supported suppressing the name until the end of September 2019, but Stuff appealed, and last week the High Court overruled the judge from February. Stuff noted, “Justice Gerald Nation said Judge Farnan had made a number of errors and Hubbard's potential distress did not meet the legal test for suppression.”

In the accident, Brisbane couple Gary and Sue Wells were injured; Gary, 69, reportedly needed major spinal surgery; Sue reportedly suffered several broken ribs. ​Sue Wells stated, "We'll never leave the country again because of the trauma from this accident. Our son had to leave his work to look after us in Dunedin. We had to depend on friends and family for months.” She said of Hubbard, “She walked out like nothing had happened." She said of the case to suppress Hubbard’s name, "It was to protect her from hardship while she trained for the Olympics. What a load of crap. We couldn't do anything for four months."