What to know about the first ever Olympics with transgender athletes

New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard and Canadian soccer player Quinn are set to make history as the first transgender athletes to compete in the Olympics when the Tokyo Games begin this month.

But the two athletes' inclusion in the upcoming Games has not been devoid of controversy. In fact, transgender athletes have been fighting for representation in all aspects of society while facing both cultural and legislative resistance. The Olympics are an important step in normalizing transgendered athletes in a world where parts of it are trying to remove them.

In many ways, this is one of the most important moments in Olympics history.

G Ryan, a genderqueer non-binary athlete who won the national championship in the 800-meter freestyle at Michigan on the women's swimming team, and competed in the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in 2012, said that representation could ultimately save lives.

"The power of seeing is believing," said Ryan, who does not identify as male or female and goes by the pronouns of they/them/theirs. "People of all different identities all over the world are in the Olympics and watch the Olympics. If you can’t see something, it’s very easy to pretend it doesn’t exist."

USA TODAY Sports examines nine things to know about the first-ever Olympics where transgender athletes will be competing.

Why this is so historic

Publicly out transgender athletes have never competed in the Olympics' 125-year modern history among 31 previous Summer Games. And it's been years in the making since International Olympic Committee's guidelines allowed for it in 2004.

According to a database compiled by online magazine Outsports, 135 Tokyo Olympians identify as LGBTQ. However, only two of them – Hubbard and Quinn – identify as transgender. American BMX freestyle rider Chelsea Wolfe identifies as transgender but is not expected to compete, having made Team USA as an alternate.

Transgender advocate and triathlete Chris Mosier, the first trans athlete to compete on a U.S. national team in the 2016 World Championships for the sprint duathlon, has been pushing for inclusion for the past 10 years. The International Olympic Committee adopted its current guidelines in 2015 after Mosier challenged the IOC’s rules for transgender athletes that required gender reassignment surgery.

"Laurel Hubbard becoming the first transgender athlete in the Olympics will be meaningful – to the trans community as a whole," Mosier wrote last month, "but to me specifically, as I’ve spent over the last decade of my life trying to lay the groundwork for this moment."

And that visibility matters. Much like when Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out as gay, now there is a beacon of hope – on the grand stage – for youth who may be struggling with gender dysphoria.

Quinn wrote in their coming-out post in September: "I want to be visible to queer (people) who don’t see people like them on their (social media) feed. I know it saved my life years ago."

"By everyone seeing this happen, it can help bolster support for trans athletes everywhere," said Hudson Taylor, the founder and executive director for the LGBTQ advocacy group Athlete Ally. "When any form of discrimination or bias or bullying directed towards a minority group of people persists, it is because the majority is silent and does not stand up and speak out. The inclusion of transgender athletes means we as a society will be unable to ignore individuals' experiences any longer."

How the rules work

In 2004, the IOC outlined guidelines to allow for transgender athletes to compete in the Games. Prior to that, an athlete could only compete as assigned by their sex at birth and not their gender identity.

The guidelines required those who transition from male to female to have gender reassignment surgery with two years of hormone therapy to remove a competitive edge from testosterone, while those who transition from female to male were eligible to compete without restriction.

In 2015, ahead of the 2016 Rio Games, the rules were adjusted and female transgender athletes were no longer required to undergo gender reassignment surgery, and hormone therapy was reduced to one year.

Joanna Harper, physicist and researcher at Loughborough University in London, was an adviser to the IOC on transgender inclusion at meetings prior to the latest rule change. She said in 2016: "The flash point for a lot of people is, ‘You’re going to allow penises in women’s sports?’ It’s not the anatomy that matters, it’s the hormones."

The IOC announced in March 2020 that it plans to issue new rules after the Tokyo Games.

Why so much controversy?

This landmark Olympics comes amid a plethora of legislative attacks on transgender participation in youth and collegiate sports across the U.S. Thirty-six states have introduced or passed bills that limit the ability of trans athletes to participate on teams that affirm their gender identity despite the damaging social and psychological impacts that LGBTQ advocates say exclusion can cause for transgender youth. A USA TODAY Sports investigation found that many of the government officials and bill supporters arguments rely on exaggerated examples and specious claims.

The 43-year-old Hubbard, who transitioned in 2013 and won gold medals at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, as well as gold at the Roma 2020 World Cup, has drawn the most backlash over social media and on conservatives websites.

Former New Zealand Olympic weightlifter Tracey Lambrechs, who competed in the 2016 Rio Games, told the Reuters Hubbard's inclusion is unfair.

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"I'm quite disappointed for the female athlete who will lose out on that spot," said Lambrechs. "We're all about equality for women in sport but right now that equality is being taken away from us. I've had female weightlifters come up to me and say, 'What do we do? This isn’t fair, what do we do?' Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do because every time we voice it we get told to be quiet."

Common myth No.1: Trans athletes have unfair advantage

Harper, the research and physicist, said athletes' inclusion has been carefully vetted: "There is scientific research and data used to determine fairness."

Her research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in March shows that hemoglobin levels in transgender women fall to levels in line with cisgender women in the space of three to four months on average following the required hormone treatment that blocks testosterone.

She said: "What we have is transgender female athletes taking drugs to be fair and limit their ability, it's sort of the opposite of an athlete who takes (steroids) to be unfair."

U.S. sprinter Cece Telfer, a transgender woman who won the 2019 NCAA Division II championship in the 400 meters, was ruled ineligible because she did not meet the testosterone level requirements of five nanomoles per liter outlined by World Athletics – the international federation for track and field.

The IOC only offers guidelines and does not necessarily enforce rules. Every transgender athlete's eligibility is up to the federation of each individual sport. Currently, the IOC's guidelines are more lenient (10 nanomoles per liter).

Common myth No. 2: Athletes transition for Olympic glory

Sports are often crucial for at-risk transgender athletes prior to their transition, so having to choose between their lifeline of competition and freeing their true identity can create immense conflict.

Former University of Montana distance runner Juniper "June" Eastwood told USA TODAY Sports last month that her transition from male to female was because of suicidal ideation from the rigors of gender dysphoria, not for a competitive edge.

"There's a gray area that gets lost because people see it in (black and white) – you're born a man or a woman. In reality, it's a life or death issue," Eastwood said.

Endocrinologist Dr. Michele Hutchison told the Associated Press in April that four trans youth in her clinic program at Arkansas Children's Hospital have tried to kill themselves since the state's bill outlawing gender-affirming healthcare for trans minors.

"The Olympics will be the first domino but it can be a double-edged sword because with visibility comes (scrutiny)," Taylor, the Athlete Ally founder, said. "There's a reason why for 18 years we've had policies in place for transgender Olympians and we're just now seeing it. There can be massive backlash targeting the trans community so the visibility can be a bit of a double-edged sword.

"But sport is based on two key principles: safety and fairness. We have rules that govern that, developed by the medical community who know a whole lot about the human body than someone complaining about trans inclusion. It can be easy to elicit an emotional response when you don't know the full complexity."

The debate for fairness

In a 2018 story, transgender cyclists Jillian Bearden and Rachel McKinnon saw the idea of competitive fairness from opposite sides. Bearden saw trans women who compete with unlimited levels of natural testosterone as dopers and cheaters, while McKinnon felt that transgender athletes being pressed to take hormone blockers further oppressed the transgender community.

Harper said that fairness is a matter of perspective, whether the discussion is transgender rights or athletics.

"We allow advantages in sports all the time," Harper said. "Having advantages doesn't necessarily mean it's unfair. We have left-handed baseball players who have an advantage over right-handed players. But we don't let heavyweight boxers go up against flyweight boxers. The fact that trans women have select advantages doesn't preclude them from having meaningful competition.

"Laurel Hubbard is a good case. She set a New Zealand junior record as male before her transition. It's clear even with hormone blockers she has a substantial advantage in her sport by being a trans woman. But Li Wenwen, the Olympic favorite who is a cisgender woman, also has an advantage and Laurel's is nowhere near what Li's is. Laurel could finish anywhere from third to 14th. Isn't that the idea of competition? Where on a very good day she could medal and bad day finish dead last? She's not out there dominating."

Taylor, a former All-American wrestler, added: "The challenge is how to not just flatline what makes an athlete exceptional because it's different in every sport. What type of body and attributes someone has as a long-distance runner, great sprinter or swimmer are all different. One set of guidelines for every sport doesn't fully fit the complexity of the issue."

Who are the transgender athletes?

New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard: In 2012 Hubbard transitioned to female. She began hormone therapy that year. Hubbard competed in international weightlifting for the first time in 2017. An elbow injury caused her to miss the 2018 Commonwealth Games and she announced a likely retirement before coming back in '19 to win two gold medals at the Pacific Games. At 43, she's also the oldest weightlifter to ever compete.

Canadian soccer player Quinn: Quinn goes by one name, and they'll be the first publicly athlete to compete in a team sport. They're a pro soccer player and midfielder for the OL Reign and the Canada women's national soccer team. They played for the Duke Blue Devils from 2013-17. They won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics with Team Canada.

The difference between transgender and intersex athletes

Intersex athletes are those who identify as having "differences of sex development." Intersex is an umbrella term for people who are born with sex characteristics “that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies,” according to a definition by the human rights arm of the United Nations.

That's different from transgender athletes who were born one biological sex before transitioning to match their gender identity.

Caster Semenya, the reigning 800-meter Olympic champion, is the most notable intersex athlete. She will not be competing at Tokyo because of the World Athletic (IAAF) rules that force athletes to take testosterone blockers – despite being born female at birth – to run in any distance between 400 meters and 1,500 meters.

Experts believe Semenya and other intersex athletes, although born female, develop internal testes around the time they hit puberty — keeping their gender the same but creating an unfair advantage. Semenya and her legal team have taken on the Court of Arbitration for Sport for what they believe to be human rights violations.

Near history-makers, those who paved the way

Harper said that the trans community makes up 1% of the population so an equal representation at the Tokyo Games would be 100 transgender athletes. Just two competitors means that the athletic world is behind society.

"Hopefully people can adjust to the idea of trans people belonging in sports and get away from this idea of trans women taking over," she said.

Prior to the two Olympians this year, there were a number of near-cases of transgender inclusion. Two closeted athletes were poised to come out as transgender prior to the Rio Games but ultimately did not qualify in their event, and Harper believes athletes who have been closeted have competed in previous Olympics.

U.S. marathon runner Megan Youngren and Brazilian volleyball player Tifanny Abreu were on pace to compete in the Tokyo Games but Youngren didn't qualify and Abreu didn't make Brazil's national team.

“My greatest legacy is not to reach an Olympics, but to open paths for new trans athletes in the near future. My wish is that, more and more, confederations start to see us not as trans people, but as athletes,” Abreu told Universa.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to know about first ever Olympics with transgender athletes