Laurel Hubbard is set to become the first openly transgender female athlete to compete at the Olympics when she steps on the podium in the women’s heavyweight weightlifting category later today.

All eyes will be on the 43-year-old weightlifter from New Zealand, who has become the centre of a fiery debate about fairness in sports competitions, with some questioning whether she has an unfair advantage due to her biology. 

Others, such as the New Zealand Olympic Committee, have supported the transgender athlete and her pioneering steps towards a more inclusive sporting world.

The news that the International Olympic Committee would allow Hubbard to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics received mixed reactions from Malta’s sporting community too. 

On one hand, sports professionals see issues with the supposed higher testosterone levels resulting from her transition that, it has been claimed, would contribute to increased muscle mass, bone density, decreased fat percentage and recovery time. 

On the other hand, those supporting Hubbard, including Malta’s Junior Minister for Sports, do so out of the desire for inclusivity, so long as it is in line with international standards.

“In sports, we see no gender, colour nor race and we strive to keep training and promoting our athletes in the best way possible,” Parliamentary Secretary for Sports Clifton Grima told Lovin Malta.

Despite Malta being a country that champions equality rights, no local transgender athlete has made a request to compete.

Laurel Hubbard will make history when she competes at 12:45pm today. However, the scientific debate over whether transgender female athletes have a physical advantage over their peers is far from over.

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