Who became the first openly transgender athlete to compete in an individual event at the Olympics (Tokyo 2020)?

Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, became the first openly transgender woman to compete in an individual event at the Olympic Games. She took part in the women's +87 kg weightlifting event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in August 2021 (the Games were postponed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic). She did not win a medal, as she failed to complete a successful lift in the snatch.

Background:

Laurel Hubbard had competed in men's weightlifting events before her gender transition in 2012-13.

She qualified for Tokyo under the International Olympic Committee's 2015 guidelines, which allowed transgender women to compete in women's events if their testosterone levels were kept below a certain limit for at least 12 months.

Her participation started a worldwide debate about fairness and inclusion in women's sports. In 2021, the IOC replaced its guidelines with a new framework that left the eligibility rules to each international sports federation. Since then, several federations, such as World Athletics, World Aquatics and the international cycling federation, have restricted transgender women from competing in women's events.

At the same Tokyo Olympics, Quinn, a Canadian footballer who is openly transgender and non-binary, won a gold medal with the Canadian women's football team, becoming the first openly transgender and non-binary athlete to win an Olympic medal.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Caster Semenya is a South African runner who won Olympic gold in the 800 m (2012 and 2016); her case concerns athletes with differences of sex development (DSD), not transgender athletes.
• ✗Dutee Chand is an Indian sprinter who won a famous case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (2015) against rules on natural testosterone levels; she is the first openly gay Indian athlete.
• ✗Valentina Petrillo is an Italian transgender Paralympic sprinter who competed at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.