New Zealand Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is urging the public to "open your minds, open your hearts" to the debate about transgender athletes competing in sports.
Hubbard said today that often people lead with emotion, but she wanted them to consider the broader picture.
"I've tried really hard not to tell people what to think because really I trust people to consider the issue and form their own opinions," she said.
"The one thing I would say though is that some people I think take emotion as the starting point for how they feel about the situation and I think that no amount of facts will probably change the opinions of people that start from their feelings and base their opinions upon what they feel.
"To those people I say just open your minds, open your hearts and consider that perhaps there is a broader perspective than there is out there."
Hubbard said there was no sign of unkindness from her competitors at the Tokyo Olympics.
"I've only ever wanted to be treated the way that other athletes have been treated. I haven't set out to look for special accommodation, special treatment or anything else really," she said.
Hubbard's comments come after she dropped out of the Olympics without successfully completing a snatch attempt last night.
Three failed attempts meant Hubbard was eliminated from the competition with a 'did not finish' marker.
While disappointed at the result, Hubbard told reporters today that she simply doesn't know what went wrong.
"You put yourself out there, you test yourself and you find out one way or the other because all weightlifters know, it's all very well being strong on your own time but when you're on that Olympic platform and you've got one minute to do your thing that's really a test like no other."
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