Did a Man Win Gold in the Olympic Women’s Weightlifting Competition?

No.

By
45

Update: This Facebook post has been corrected to note that the picture is from the 2019 Pacific Games.

A viral Facebook post claims that a “man won gold in women’s lifting finals competition.” 

The claim is false.

The pictures are of Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weight lifter who recently made headlines after the International Olympic Committee determined Hubbard could compete in the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first transgender athlete to compete in an individual event at the Summer Olympics. The IOC currently allows transgender women to participate in the Olympics provided their testosterone levels remain below 10 nanomoles per liter for at least a year before competition, but has said it will be updating guidelines on transgender athlete participation.

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  1. Avatar photo
    PeteC

    Fyi, the post was edited yesterday to show that this took place during the 2019 Pacific Games.

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  2. Avatar photo
    Aylene Wright

    It occurs to me that the FB post and its defenders are a visual version of "dogwhistling". IMO it's designed to mislead people into assuming that Hubbard won the Gold medal at the Olympics, and to stir them up into outrage over it, that wouldn't happen if it was just a gold medal at a non-international event from 2 years ago.

    But I can't prove that. However the people denying there was active bad faith, can't prove that either. Yet they're quick to accuse Alec of lying because "the FB post never claimed this happened at the Olympics!"

    Sure, it didn't. Much as the politicians who liked to call P44 "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" weren't saying "The fake Christian/ secret Muslim Barack Hussein Obama", either.

    (BTW I know people in RL, even Democrats, who still think Obama is a Muslim. They mostly don't think it's a bad thing, but they still bought into a lie. At least one Bernie supporter saying something along the lines of, "if Bernie wins, it would be cool to finally have a Jewish president! We've had so many Christian presidents, and even a Muslim president, but we've never had a Jewish President".)

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    1. Avatar photo
      Aylene Wright

      PS: It occurs to me that really shows how "successful" the "Obama is a secret Muslim" propaganda was, that even some people who are biased in his FAVOR wound up believing it. It also occurs to me that polls on the 2020 election shows there are a few Democrats, albeit, only about 3 to 5%, who think Biden DID steal the election, but I assume they think that was a good thing.

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      1. Mack

        Further proof that (provided the group in question is of sufficient size) at least 3% of any given group of people will believe pretty much anything.

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  3. Avatar photo
    The Stray Goose

    The only person who is misleading us here is Alec Dent.

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    1. Avatar photo
      The Stray Goose

      He’s refuting something that has not been said.

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      1. Mack

        He’s refuting something that was clearly implied by the original version of the post. You and several other commenters on here can ignore that all you like, but that doesn’t make it less true.

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        1. Avatar photo
          The Stray Goose

          Mr. Dent is lying and you're falling for his lie. He seems to support allowing men to compete in women's competitions (referring to this man as 'she') and labeling this 'FALSE' instead of misleading. The only thing that's misleading about this is the date that it was posted - that's it. The rest is completely true. I speak for the rest of the commentators when I say, 'go pound sand'.

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          1. Avatar photocircle-angle-nib
            Alec Dent vertical-nib Author

            https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/06/serena-williams-john-mcenroe-says-she-couldnt-succeed-mens-tour/

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          2. Mack

            You clearly do NOT speak for “the rest of the commentators,” as a quick glance over the comments section proves.

            I agree that the post should have been labeled misleading instead of false. But you miss the point that “the date this was posted” is exactly WHY it was labeled false…because it was made in a particular context, and you don’t just get to ignore that when evaluating truth and falsehood.

            By the way, you know I still got e-mailed your original reply, right? I only ask because you seem to have such a burning concern for truth…

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  4. Avatar photo
    The Stray Goose

    ‘She’ - so now even TD can’t see reality. Sad.

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    1. Mack

      On this, at least, we agree. Hubbard may claim to be a woman, but he is not, no matter how many testosterone blockers he’s taken.

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  5. Avatar photo
    Dr Mantis Toboggan

    “ A viral Facebook post claims that a “man won gold in women's lifting finals.” . . . The pictures from the Facebook post are not, however, from the Olympic Games, but from. the 2019 Pacific Games, where Hubbard won two gold medals. . . “

    So the claim is ABSOLUTELY TRUE. The original claim never referenced the Tokyo Olympics. A man did indeed win gold in women’s weight lifting finals.

    This is why ya gotta fact-check the so-called fact checkers.


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    1. Mack

      The original post also never referenced the Pacific Games, either — though it has since been edited to do so. And coming out as it did during the Olympics, the post’s implication was clear.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Dr Mantis Toboggan

        The photo accompanying the original post looks like it says Pacific Games a whole lot more than 2020 Olympics

        I believe the point is that a full-on man won the top prize in a women’s sporting event.

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        1. Avatar photo
          PeteC

          The post was edited yesterday to show that this took place during the 2019 Pacific Games. My guess is that the poster knew people were assuming it took place during the 2021 Olympics.

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        2. Mack

          Yes, it does. But the only unobstructed occurrence of that text is in very small print, on the edge of the frame. And the viewers are directed to look at closeups of the women’s faces, not the background.

          I saw that text the first time, but only because I went looking for it. Most people probably wouldn’t…because, as you said, they would have taken the point that a man took gold at a woman’s weightlifting event, and just assumed it was at the Olympics.

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  6. Mike Nelson

    Facebook used The Dispatch as their "independent Fact-Checker" on this. They have attached this to the post: "Independent fact-checkers say this information is missing context and could mislead people."

    Interestingly, The Dispatch fact-check didn't say that the post was missing context, it said that "the claim if false". The claim in the original post is NOT false. In fact, it is verifiably true.

    My concern has nothing to do with the transgender aspect of the story, but that The Dispatch is doing the same thing that other media fact-checkers do to fit a narrative... present a straw man argument to justify a conclusion. I had hoped for better from The Dispatch.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Dave T

      I would assert that you are doing exactly what you incorrectly accuse The Dispatch of doing: twisting the facts to suit a preferred narrative.

      It's perfectly clear that the post is intended to make viewers believe that a man won the women's Olympic gold medal for weightlifting. That idea is false.

      There is no obscuring the fact that this individual DID win at the Pacific games. Everything is stated correctly

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      1. Mike Nelson

        I’m not twisting anything. Here’s the quote from the “fact-check”.

        ** A viral Facebook post claims that a “man won gold in women's lifting finals competition.” The claim is false. **

        The claim is not false, it is true. Everything else is speculation and conjecture. If you can’t grasp the difference, well, that’s on you.

        The most false information in the piece is the headline: “Did a Man Win Gold in the Olympic Women’s Weightlifting Competition?” The original post said no such thing.

        We should expect more from The Dispatch.

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        1. Mack

          On this standard, you would be justified in disputing a claim that Barack Obama was “the first black president.” I can see your response now:

          “The claim is not true, it is false. Many black people held the title of president before Obama. Joseph Jenkins Roberts was president of Liberia in the 1840s, just to name one example. The original text mentions nothing about the claim being limited to the office of President of the United States. Any inference that it was meant to be so limited is mere speculation and conjecture.”

          The post was made during the Olympics, about an athlete who is currently — and very notably — at the Olympics. It is therefore not much of a stretch to believe that most of the thousands of people who shared the post, and the hundreds of people who commented on it, did so believing that it was written about something that had taken place at the Olympics. To ignore this context to the extent that you are doing is to ascend to a level of pedantry that would make Ted Mosby weep in admiration.

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    2. Alex DeLarge

      I think the problem stems from the Facebook "partner" agreement. Whatever the exact terms are (it's a big secret), Facebook is obviously contracting for "independent" outlets to validate their censorship decisions. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out which way they want the checks to go, or what type of fact checks would get you dropped from the "partnership."

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      1. Avatar photocircle-angle-nib
        Alec Dent vertical-nib Author

        Alex, you can find out all about Facebook's fact checking program with a simple Google search. I've even explained our "secret" relationship with Facebook both in the comments here before and on a podcast. Here's the link if you'd like to learn more: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3EJbaz0S95BPhfMSw7ctlm?si=blqFlIyuSjqZKIDcbl7agw&dl_branch=1&nd=1

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        1. Avatar photo
          Adam

          "A" podcast

          THE podcast

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          1. Jack (KY)

            The prophecy came true.

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        2. Mike Nelson

          Alec, can you provide the criteria used to rate true statements as false? Do you have a link for that?

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            Kevin C. Smith

            It's discussed in the podcast.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Adam Bridge

    How to treat trans-gender athletes is something the sports community is still working with. There's just a ton of complexity and nuance to the issue. I think the post was designed to create hate/discontent without any sense of context. That context is important so I'm all for this fact check.

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  8. Mike Nelson

    What, exactly, are you rating as false? I don’t see anything in the original post claiming that he won OLYMPIC medals. He did, in fact, win a women’s lifting competition. You are doing the same thing many “fact checkers” do… instead of checking the actual claim, you make up or imply another to fit you agenda. I rate your fact-check: False.

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    1. Avatar photo
      William Cotton

      Listen, I have issues with trans women in events like weightlifting, but there’s no reason to be such an asshole about it.

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      1. Pretzel_Logic

        as a woman who competes in powerlifting and has similar mixed emotions about trans lifters, this is the correct take. I honestly don't know what should be done, but I do have every confidence that NO ONE is becoming trans or anything of that nature just to "cheat" at a sport that virtually no one cares about lol. The trans lifters are people and they want to compete, that's it, and it makes me sad people get really hateful about it (even if I may agree with their conclusions!)

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    2. Mack

      Someone posted about someone winning a medal...during the Olympics. Most people who saw the post -- especially before it was edited to clarify that the medal ceremony in question happened two years ago, which was clearly done since the screenshot above was taken -- will naturally assume that it happened during the Olympics. I don't have time to go through all 900+ comments, but I am willing to bet a fair few of them would support my assumption.

      Perhaps Alec could have been a little more charitable, and said the claim was "misleading" instead of "false." But then again, your own attempt to fact-check his fact-check ignores the context in which the post was made. Which would make your whole rant here "misleading" as well, no?

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    3. Alex DeLarge

      Yeah, you can even see "2019 Pacific Games" in the picture. Also, Hubbard is a man.

      I rate this fact check: as "misleading" and "lacking context."

      But this is par for the course in the corrupt "fact check" grift.

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    4. Richard Kennedy

      Pretty obvious to me that the fact of non-Olympic medals won was covered in this piece. There is no link to the FB post, but if that post were current, the implication of an Olympic gold would be obvious and misleading as well. Relax, this isn't end of the world stuff.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Aylene Wright

        The FB post is from July 30th. The year isn't mentioned. But most people seeing that would assume it happened on July 30th, 2021, during the Olympics.

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        1. Mack

          More than that. If you click through to the actual post and hover over the date, you will receive confirmation that Duntin's post was indeed made on July 30, 2021:

          https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2851804288369897&set=a.1533802493503423&type=3

          Of course, a quick check of the Olympics schedule would confirm that at the time, the event in which Hubbard was competing had not started yet. But most people don't pay much attention to scheduling for individual disciplines -- especially in sports like weightlifting, which are not among the highest ratings-grabbers.

          So no, it is not a huge leap to assume that when someone posts a story during the Olympics about someone winning a gold medal, people will assume it happened during the Olympics. Especially when the whole point is not about the Olympics, but about a social controversy.

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          1. Mads Lindstrøm

            The text in the link you provide:

            "A whole man won gold in the women's lifting finals competition, smh 🤦🏿 watch the ladies faces, smh. So unfair 😐

            @ the 2019 Pacific Games."

            I think it is pretty clear it is not from the Olympics. Though I cannot know if the text has changed or always said "@ the 2019 Pacific Games".

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        2. Avatar photo
          BestUsedCarSales

          And so the fact check becomes not what was said, but what they assumed was said.
          This is part of the issue with fact checkers having to issues a true/false statement when the only reasonable response to this is a clarification.

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