Trailblazing transgender Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard has been named New Zealand's Sportswoman of the Year.
This past summer, the 43-year-old athlete became the first openly transgender woman to compete in a solo event at the Tokyo Olympics after she qualified for the women's 87+ kg weightlifting event.
Now, per the Daily Mail, she has made history again by becoming the first trans woman in its 113-year history to win the Sportswoman of the Year award.
Hubbard was awarded this title by the University of Otago at the Blues awards on Tuesday, September 28.
In a statement to the Otago Daily Times, Hubbard said she was "grateful for all of the support and kindness received from the teaching staff and students at Otago University".
She added: "It is not possible for athletes to compete at the Olympic level without the encouragement and aroha of friends, family, and supporters. This award belongs to everyone who has been part of my Olympic journey."
The decision to include the athlete, who was assigned male at birth, in the women's category at the Olympics divided sports fans as some argued she may have a physical advantage over her cisgender teammates.
In any case, Hubbard was ultimately eliminated from the competition on August 2 after missing all three of her snatch lift attempts.
Per The Independent, Hubbard said in a statement to the press after her lift attempts: "I know that from a sporting perspective I haven’t really hit the standards that I put upon myself and perhaps the standards that my country has expected of me.
"But one of the things for which I am profoundly grateful is that the supporters in New Zealand have given me so much and have been beyond astonishing. I’d like to thank the New Zealand Olympic Committee."
"They have supported me through what have been quite difficult times. I know that my participation at these Games has not been entirely without controversy but they have been just so wonderful and I’m so grateful to them," she added.
She also told the press that, following her Olympic debut, she was looking forward to descending into "graceful obscurity".