A female weightlifter has railed against a transgender competitor after breaking the women’s record at a championship.
Anne Andres, a 40-year-old trans woman, set the all-time record at the 2023 Canadian Powerlifting Union Western Canadian Championships on Sunday – lifting a combined 200 kilograms more than the second-place contender.
April Hutchinson, a Canadian Powerlifting Union weightlifter, criticized the decision to allow Andres to compete as “completely unfair”.
“It’s bodies that play sports, not identities. Remember bodies are biology, not identities that play sports,” Hutchinson said.
The weight lifted by Andres totaled 597.5 kilograms in the squat, bench and deadlift disciplines – 200 kilograms more than his closest opponent, SuJan Gill.
Gill’s combined total was 387.5 kilograms.
A female weightlifter railed against transgender competitor Anne Andres who broke the women’s record at a championship (pictured)
Anne Andres, a 40-year-old trans woman, set the all-time record at the 2023 Canadian Powerlifting Union Western Canadian Championships on Sunday – lifting a combined 200 kilograms more than the second-place contender
April Hutchinson, a Canadian Powerlifting Union weightlifter, criticized the decision to allow Andres to compete as “completely unfair”
With her total, Andres set a new Canadian women’s national record, while unofficially breaking the women’s world record.
Speaking to Talk TV, Hutchinson said: ‘It’s very disheartening’ to see Andres break the record. “Athletes have been looking for this for years. And we are talking about top athletes who have trained and trained and trained.
She added that some women left the competition because they knew Andres would lift.
“My boyfriend could basically walk in tomorrow, identify as female, compete, and then the next day be male again,” Hutchinson said.
“No proof, no ID required, just explain how you feel that day or whatever sex you want,” she said.
On Tuesday, swimming star Riley Gaines took aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for policies that allow the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU) to have a self-identification transgender inclusion policy.
Andres made headlines in March after men’s powerlifting coach Avi Silverberg, who worked with Team Canada, entered a competition to protest transgender policies established by the CPU.
He identified as female and broke the 84 kilogram plus category whose record holder is Andres.
She was on hand to watch Silverberg break the bench press record at the “Heroes Classic”, and was quick to respond by calling him a “coward and fanatic” with “malicious intent”.
Swimming star Riley Gaines took aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday after the transgender athlete set an unofficial world record in powerlifting
Andres has once made fun of women for being “so bad” at the bench press.
‘Why is the women’s bench so bad?’ she said in February. “I mean not compared to me, we all know I’m a trans freak so that doesn’t count.
“I mean, standard bench in women’s powerlifting competitions. I literally don’t understand why this is so bad.
She made these statements in a video posted online.
At the time, Gaines – who is also a spokesperson for the Independent Women’s Forum and a competitive swimmer beaten by transgender athlete Lia Thomas – hit out at Andres.
She wrote on Twitter: ‘Anne Andres (a man who identifies and competes as a woman) doesn’t understand why female lifters are so ‘bad’ at the bench press…
“Well, I don’t know Anne, but maybe it’s because you have 20 times more testosterone than them. Just a thought…’ Gaines wrote.
ICONS Women, a campaign group dedicated to defending the rights of female athletes in single-sex sport, posted Silverberg’s clip to their Twitter account.
The issue of allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sport has become increasingly contentious after a series of high-profile cases.
In 2022, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas split the sports community after spending three years on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swim team.
Thomas – who is 6ft 3in – returned for her final year as a swimmer and started breaking records in the pool.
She beat out Gaines, who has since become a strong advocate for protecting female spaces in sport.
Gaines not only objected to Thomas’ unfair advantage, being born male, but also claimed it made her feel uncomfortable in the locker room.
“You have someone with male genitalia pulling down their pants and staring at you as you undress. It baffles you,” she said at the time.
The official female record holder of 84kg+ is transgender powerlifter Anne Andres, who previously mocked women for being ‘so bad’ at the bench press
And in 2021, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard qualified for the Tokyo Olympics despite being nearly twice the age of her female rivals.
She had transitioned into her thirties in 2012, having competed in men’s weightlifting competitions beforehand.
She took a 16-year hiatus from the sport before returning as a woman in 2017.
She won two silver medals at the world championships in the 90 kg category in California.
She was able to qualify for the Olympics after the International Olympic Committee changed its rules to allow women to compete if their testosterone levels are below a certain threshold.
In 2021, she was controversially named Sportswoman of the Year by the University of Otago.
And in March, a transgender cyclist won first place in a women’s race in New York amid ongoing debates over the inclusion of trans athletes in women’s competitions.
Tiffany Thomas, 46, who was born male, finished the Randall’s Island Crit cycling race on the podium, blasting the competition out of the water to snatch first place.
Although she only started cycling in 2018, Tiffany quickly found success and dominated competitions in the years that followed.
Riley Gaines was beaten by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas last year at the NCAA Championships. Thomas competed as a male swimmer for three years before returning as a female and began breaking records in the pool
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard (pictured) has been named Sportswoman of the Year by New Zealand University of Otago.
Hubbard transitioned into his thirties in 2012, having previously competed in men’s weightlifting competitions
She recently landed a spot on the top LA Sweat cycling team, where her oldest teammate is just 32.
It comes after World Athletics announced it would ban transgender athletes who have gone through ‘male puberty’ from competing in women’s world ranking sports.
World Athletics chairman Sebastian Coe said the organization “believes that the integrity of the women’s category in athletics is paramount”.
The decision means that Thomas will not be able to compete in the world championships or the Olympics.
