At the Olympics, a reporter was met with awkward silence when he asked a women’s Olympic weightlifting medalist at the podium about Laurel Hubbard’s participation in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The podium had gold-medalist Li Wenwen from China, the silver medalist Emily Campbell from Britain, and the bronze medalist Sarah Robles from the Unites States, speaking according to the Business Insider report.
Hubbard, the New Zealand transexual weightlifter, failed to have any successful lifts recorded in the feat. Hubbard, after the failed appearance at the Games, announced a retirement.
The silver medalist who was answering questions at the time when the reporter at the press conference said, “There was a historic night here with Laurel Hubbard competing as the first openly transgender in an individual event.”
The reporter then asked, “I was wondering what you felt about that and what you felt that took place in your sport?”
The question seemed to be directed towards Campbell but was left open for any of the medalists to respond on how they felt with Hubbard participating in the events.
At first, no one responded to the question. Campbell looked uninterested in answering the question, Wenwen seemed frozen in time, and Robles took a sip of water.
However, after about an eight-second of silence, the American said: “No, thank you.”
Laurel Hubbard of Team New Zealand waves to her fans during the Weightlifting – Women’s 87kg+ Group A on day ten of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo International Forum. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
According to Insider, Robles made history being the first American woman to win two Olympic weightlifting medals. In 2016 she won the bronze in the +75-kilogram category, and in Tokyo, she won the bronze in the +87-kilogram competition.
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