ABOVE: Photo via Quinn’s Instagram.
KASHIMA-SHI, JAPAN | Before this week ends, the world will know the name Quinn. They will be the first-ever trans nonbinary athlete to win an Olympic medal.
Quinn already made history as the world’s first trans nonbinary athlete to compete in any Olympic games. Now they and their teammates are on their way to winning either silver or gold. All Team Canada has to do is defeat Sweden on Thursday as handily as it did the number one-ranked USWNT in a 1-0 shutout Monday. Lose, and they get the silver; Win, and Quinn and Team Canada take home gold.
“I’m so proud of my team,” Quinn told the CBC. “They’re my best friends. I’m so glad we’re bringing back a better medal than bronze.”
Reporters asked Quinn about the historic nature of their participation, but they were focused on supporting their teammates who have waited almost a decade for this moment.
“I’m doing this for the people I grew up looking up to. Like Sincy,” they said.
“We finally won,” said Captain Christine “Sincy” Sinclair. “For those of us who were part of the 2012 game, it was nice to get a little revenge in an Olympic semifinal.”
On the other side of the pitch, out USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe talked with NBC Sports about how it felt to lose to Canada: “It sucks,” she said. “It’s a bitter one to swallow. Obviously we never want to lose to Canada. I don’t think I’ve ever lost to Canada. So it’s a bitter one.”
Rapinoe is engaged to marry Team USA co-flag bearer and Seattle Storm sensation Sue Bird, the longest-tenured player in the WNBA. She’s in Tokyo chasing her fifth gold medal, in what she said would be her last Olympics. Rapinoe has one, from London in 2012, where Team Canada suffered defeat and heartbreak.
Until Monday, the American women hadn’t lost to Canada in two decades. They traveled to Tokyo as back-to-back defending World Cup champions, having not lost a single match in 44 tries. They hadn’t been shutout in four years.
Then Canada’s Jessie Fleming of London, Ontario converted a penalty kick in the 74th minute to score the only goal of Monday’s match, sending the ball past out American goalkeeper, Adrianna Franch.
So, for Team USA to have lost twice and get shutout three times, with bronze as their best hope? It’s a stunner for the iconic team with at least four out women: Rapinoe, Franch Tierna Davidson and Kelly O’Hara.
For Quinn, this is also about showing the next generation what they can get from playing sports.
“Athletics is the most exciting part of my life and it brings me the most joy,” Quinn told CBC Sports on Monday. “If I can allow kids to play the sports they love, that’s my legacy and that’s what I’m here for.”
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Hubbard, 43, had three chances to advance in “the snatch” first round of the Women’s Super Heavyweight Division competition in Tokyo Monday, but failed to complete a lift that counted. She was the only one of the 13 finalists to not complete at least one lift in the competition that was ultimately won by China’s Li Wenwen.
Before leaving the stage, Hubbard pounded her chest and made a heart gesture with her hands, sending a message of gratitude to the judges, the audience and everyone watching online and on television around the world.
Later, Hubbard told reporters she was grateful to the International Olympic Committee, which supported her entry and last week declared, “Trans women are women.”
“Of course, I’m not entirely unaware of the controversy which surrounds my participation in these Games,” Hubbard said after leaving the competition. “And, as such, I’d particularly like to thank the IOC, for, I think, really affirming their commitment to the principles of Olympism, and establishing that sport is something for all people. It is inclusive. It is accessible.”
The International Weightlifting Federation also earned Hubbard’s thanks, she said, because “they too have shown that weightlifting is an activity that’s open to all of the people in the world.”
