Transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard: "It gets better"

Details: Hubbard met for about half an hour with a small group of journalists at a Tokyo hotel on Tuesday, hours after competing in the women's +87 Kg weightlifting competition. She exited after being unsuccessful in her first three lifts.

Between the lines: Asked what message she had for fellow transgender people, Hubbard said: "My message is simply this: Life is difficult. There are always setbacks and disappointments, but if there is one message to go for, it is this, it gets better."

• Hubbard said she has tried not to dwell on negative attention from from traditional and social media, "because it makes a hard job even harder."

"It's hard enough lifting a barbell but if you are putting more weight on it, then it makes it just an impossible task, really."

What's next: Hubbard said she doesn't know whether she plans to continue competing.

• "I think in order to get to this level of competition you have to be exceptionally single minded. That doesn't really leave a lot of room to think about what comes next. Working toward those answers is something that starts today. We'll just have to see."

Go deeper:

• Laurel Hubbard becomes first openly trans woman to compete at Olympics
• Trans athletes see the Tokyo Games as a watershed moment

Editor's note: This article has been updated with further comment from Hubbard and to embed the YouTube video.