I am coming to the conclusion that in this increasingly crazy world, New Zealand is the largest open air asylum on this planet. For this week, the University of Otago on South Island has named as its sportswoman of the year Laurel Hubbard. Remember her?
She should not win because she was until a few years ago a man called Gavin and thus has a huge natural advantage over female born weightlifters with whom she competes. More importantly, when competing at the Olympics she came last after failing to complete even one successful lift. At least Eddie the Eagle completed a jump or two. So he competed but came last. Laurel just failed. She did not really compete at all. Surely the sportswoman of the year should be a winner, of which New Zealand has many, not a total loser?
Sport is about winning and losing and sporting awards should surely recognize that. Most of us regard Ms Hubbard as a cheat in that she should not be competing against those who have always been women. But surely we can all agree that she is a loser in sporting terms and that should not make you sportswoman of the year. The point of sport is not to be applauded for coming last and failing completely.