A man who identifies as a woman set a national record at a women’s powerlifting championship in Canada on Sunday.
Held at Brandon University’s Healthy Living Center, the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s 2023 Western Canadian Championship served host to 40-year-old Anne Andres, a transgender athlete who already “holds multiple records in the female division, including women’s deadlift and bench press, and has placed first in nine out of the eleven competitions he has participated in over the past four years,” according to Reduxx.
Andres competed in the Female Masters Unequipped category at the competition on Sunday and took home first place.
“Andres’s total powerlifting score was over 200lbs more than the top-performing female in the same class – 597.5lbs versus SuJan Gil’s 387.5lbs total. A “total” is the sum of the heaviest weight lifted for the squat, bench press, and deadlift,” noted Reduxx.
“Andres’ total would have placed him amongst the top-performing male powerlifters in the entire championship had he participated in the men’s category,” it added.
Andres not only set the Canadian women’s national record but also possibly set an unofficial women’s world powerlifting record. The Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU), the parent organization for the Western Canadian Championships, previously made a wholly radical rule allowing males to compete in womens’ sports strictly off gender identity.
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) said that the CPU’s “Trans Inclusion Policy” meant that males could participate in women’s sports without even undergoing hormone treatment.
“Based on this background and available evidence, the Expert Working Group felt that trans athletes should be able to participate in the gender with which they identify, regardless of whether or not they have undergone hormone therapy,” the document read.
Linda Blade, founder of the International Consortium on Female Sport, told Reduxx that the CPU championed unfairness by including Andres.
“Since we became aware of Anne Andres’s unethical participation in CPU female powerlifting in January of 2023, we have written letters, helped affected athletes obtain legal representation, and worked very hard to convince CPU to align with its own international federation to ensure fairness for Canadian women,” said Blade.
Andres celebrated the win and shared a video from the competition on his Instagram account.
“Today I did some lifting. Not just some lifting. I got to lift with friends from across Canada. Friends who welcome me and love me and want me to be there. Friends who support trying to be the best me. I couldn’t ask for more than that, could I?” wrote Andres. “Keep in mind I turned 40 a week ago so suddenly being master 1 is kind of hollow. That in mind, I got every masters record and two unofficial world masters records. I don’t care about records. I care about being there with my friends.”
Reactions on Twitter were brutal:
In February of this year, Andres became a known name in advocate circles when a video showed him criticizing the bench press skills of female powerlifters.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
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