A niche sport in the best of times, weightlifting has in recent years often made news for the wrong reasons, including doping scandals and widespread corruption.
On Monday, it made news for an entirely different reason: Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, became the first openly transgender woman to participate in the Olympics. She failed to complete a lift in the first half of the competition and bowed out of the second half, leaving as quietly as she arrived.
In a brief appearance before the media, Hubbard praised the International Olympic Committee for creating conditions that allowed her to compete in Tokyo.