this is bbc news. i m sarah mulkerrins live in tokyo on day 10 of the olympics. an athlete from belarus is under police protection in tokyo, after her team officials tried to put her on a plane home against her will. the against her will. first openly transgender athlete the first openly transgender athlete to compete in an olympics is due to make history today when she competes in the women s weightlifting competition. i m rich preston in london. also in the programme: taliban fighters continue to advance in afghanistan attacking cities, and threatening to over run the capital of helmand province. unarmed troops begin to patrol the streets of sydney as australia ramps up
welcome to bbc news. i m rich preston. our top stories: an athlete from belarus is under police protection in tokyo, after her team officials tried to put her on a plane home against her will. the first openly transgender athlete to compete in an olympics is due to make history today when she competes in the women s weightlifting competition. taliban fighters continue to advance in afghanistan attacking cities, and threatening to over run the capital of helmand province. unarmed troops begin to patrol the streets of sydney as australia ramps up its covid lockdown.
of the most repressive countries in europe, the government cracking down on any dissent. krystsina tsimanouskaya has little choice but to settle in another country. richard galpin, bbc news. new zealand s laurel hubbard has become the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the olympic games when she contested the 87 plus kilo category in the women s weightlifting competition. she ended her olympic bid after failing to lift i25kg. let s speak now to doctorjoanna harper, a medical physicist at loughborough university who has advised the international olympic committee on tra nsgender athletes. she is a trans woman herself. thank you very much forjoining us this afternoon. just explain why laurel hubbard has been allowed to compete in this event against biological women? compete in this event against biological women? first of all lease, biological women? first of all please, joanna.
sold. they d maybe don t want people to get to overexcited and enthusiastic. they were asked if spectators had to show proof of negative test, and actually, the tokyo 2020 ceo said that would be problematic. it is not expected that spectators will have to show any proof of a negative covid test. laura scott, thank you very much indeed. well, the olympics will also break new ground this summer when the first transgender athlete takes part in the games at the women s weightlifting competition. laurel hubbard will compete in the super heavyweight category for new zealand, but her inclusion in their team has brought criticism from women s rights campaigners in what is one of sport s most sensitive areas of debate. joe lynskey reports. new zealand will send five olympic weightlifters to tokyo, one of them laura harboured, whose 43 and