A grinning 6’2″ Ann Andres stepped onto the podium at the Canadian Powerlifting Union Women’s Regional Championship earlier this August to claim the gold medal.
I’ll never know what was so funny.
But sure, women are treated like a joke.
Andres, a trans person, lifted 1,327 pounds, calculated from the combined weight of three lifts: squat, bench, and deadlift, beating the closest competition by a whopping 470 pounds.
The top 20 men’s competitors lift more than 2,000 pounds. If Andres competed against them, Andres wouldn’t even be in the top 6,000.
But Andres’s deadlift was the second highest in women’s weightlifting history. It was doubly shocking because athletes who set records in my sport are in their 20s and early 30s.
Andrew is 40 years old.
And we used to be friends.
When Andres and I first met online, Andres was a self-described “she-boy.” I didn’t know what that meant.
I was powerlifting and Andres was training. We talked on Facebook. Andres looked like a woman and I asked no questions. We Canadians are very polite.
It wasn’t until we fell out over transgender New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard’s participation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that I found out that Andres was a biological male.
Andres passed over almost two decades ago, which means that Andres has gone through male puberty and is enjoying all the physical benefits that come with it.
A grinning 6’2″ Ann Andres stepped onto the podium at the Canadian Powerlifting Union Women’s Regional Championship earlier this August to claim the gold medal.
When Andres and I first met online, Andres was a self-described “she-boy.” I didn’t know what that meant.
I told Andres that I thought a transgender person competing against biological women was cheating. So Andres blocked me.
Since then, Andres has gained an incredible amount of weight and strength, especially for someone who has only competed for four years and, admittedly, hadn’t touched a barbell until 2006.
Andres weighed 200 pounds and deadlifted 314 pounds in 2019. Today, Andres weighs nearly 260 pounds and deadlifts over 500.
While Andres’ win is seemingly impossible in the female league, the numbers would barely register in the male division.
But that didn’t stop Andres, just a few years into life as a “woman,” from taking to social media to mock women, to belittle us as weak, to rub it in our faces.
“Why is the women’s bench so bad?” Andres asked in an Instagram video. “Not compared to me,” Andres admitted, “we all know I’m a tranny freak, so that doesn’t count.”
Andres even typified a female rival with “little T-Rex arms.”
Could this be why Andres put a stuffed T-Rex dinosaur on stage this month while collecting the target medal?
I know the dedication it takes to become a top athlete in this sport. It’s a full-time job that requires me to sacrifice time with family, dates with my boyfriend, forego alcohol and other indulgences to prioritize sleep, nutrition, and extra time at the gym.
Does that deserve ridicule?
Andres also seems oblivious to the physical struggles only biological women go through – a menstrual cycle.
Many of us experience terrible pain, bloating and loss of energy that can easily take us a week off from exercising. That translates into failed lifts, injuries and missed opportunities.
Women are often told: don’t participate. If you refuse to play with the ball, they leave.
For those who offer this pointless solution, the record shows that quite a few women have refused to compete against Andres.
Andres (above) weighed 200 pounds and deadlifted 314 pounds in 2019. Today, Andres weighs nearly 260 pounds and deadlifts over 500.
It wasn’t until we got into a fight about transgender New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard (above) competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that I found out that Andres was a biological male.
I should be competing against Andres in February at the Canadian National Championships. I didn’t show up.
What observers of the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU) awards ceremony failed to see was that the athletes, standing next to Andres on the podium, were the only other participants. Two others had dropped out.
More women have dropped out or dropped out to qualify for different classes and not lift against Andres. A friend of mine says she had a nervous breakdown after her dreams were crushed.
I should be competing against Andres in February at the Canadian National Championships. I didn’t show up.
When I talked about Andres and wrote the CPU, they ignored me. When I refused to shut up, the CPU threatened me with suspension from the Canadian national team. I have now found a lawyer to help with my legal battle.
None of it made a difference.
Andres got to compete, taking the stage in place of a biological woman and setting national records that may never be broken.
Everyone knows this is unethical. But the federation has been too cowardly to do anything because the Canadian government protects “gender identity” from discrimination alongside race, gender and sexual orientation.
This violates the rights of biological women.
Women should demand honesty, but even that is not enough.
If and, hopefully, when the CPU comes to its senses, biological male records should be wiped out.
Only women are entitled to these awards.