‘Completely unfair’: Female powerlifter rails against trans competitor Anne Andres, 40, saying ‘it’s bodies that play sports not identities’ after she smashed female record during championship

A female powerlifter has lashed out at a transgender contestant 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’s Western Canadian Championship Sunday — lifting a total of 200 pounds more than the second-place competitor.

April Hutchinson, a powerlifter with the Canadian Powerlifting Union, 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 playing sports,” Hutchinson said.

The weight lifted by Andres totaled 597.5 kilograms in the squat, bench and deadlift disciplines – 200 kilograms more than her closest opponent, SuJan Gill.

Gill’s combined total was 387.5 kilograms.

Anne Andres, a 40-year-old trans woman, set the all-time record at the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s 2023 Western Canadian Championship Sunday — she lifted a total of 200 pounds more than the second-place competitor

April Hutchinson, a powerlifter with the Canadian Powerlifting Union, criticized the decision to allow Andres to compete as ‘completely unfair’

With her total, Andres set a new national record for Canadian women, while also unofficially breaking the women’s world record.

Speaking to Talk TV, Hutchinson said “It was very disheartening” to watch Andres beat the record. . Athletes have been chasing that for years. And then we are talking about top athletes who have trained and trained and trained.’

She added that some women dropped out of the competition because they knew Andres would rise in the tournament.

“My friend could basically walk in tomorrow, identify as a woman, join in, and become a man again the next day,” Hutchinson said.

“No proof, no ID required, just go on with how you feel that day or whatever gender you want,” she said.

On Tuesday, swimmer Riley Gaines took aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for policies that would allow the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU) to adopt a trans-inclusion gender self-identification policy.

Andres made headlines in March after male powerlifting coach Avi Silverberg, who worked with Team Canada, entered a competition in protest of the CPU’s transgender policy.

He identified himself as a woman and shattered the category of over 84 kilograms of which Andres is the record holder.

She was on hand to watch Silverberg break the bench press record at the “Heroes Classic,” and quickly responded by calling him a “coward and a bigot” with “malicious intent.”

Swimmer Riley Gaines took aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday after the transgender athlete set an unofficial world record in powerlifting

Andres has previously mocked women for being “so bad” at bench presses.

“Why is the women’s bench so bad?” she said in February. “I mean, not compared to me, we all know I’m a tranny freak so it doesn’t count.

“I mean, standard bench in women’s powerlifting competitions. I literally don’t understand why it’s so bad.’

She made the statements in a video uploaded online.

At that point, Gaines — who is also a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum and a competitive swimmer who was beaten by transgender athlete Lia Thomas — lashed out at Andres.

She wrote on Twitter: “Anne Andres (man who identifies and competes as a woman) doesn’t understand why female powerlifters are so “bad” at bench press…

‘Well, I don’t know Anne, but maybe it’s because you have 20 times more testosterone than she does. Just a thought…” Gaines wrote.

ICONS Women, a campaign group dedicated to defending the rights of female athletes in single-sex sports, posted Silverberg’s clip to their Twitter account.

The issue of allowing transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports has become increasingly controversial following a series of high-profile cases.

In 2022, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas divided the sports community after spending three years on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swim team.

Thomas – who is 6 feet 3 inches – came back for her senior year as a swimmer and started breaking records in the pool.

She defeated Gaines, who has since become an outspoken advocate for protecting female spaces in sports.

Gaines not only objected to Thomas’s unfair advantage because she was born male, but also claimed that it made her uncomfortable in the locker room.

“You have someone with male genitalia pulling down his pants and watching you undress. It drives you crazy,” she said at the time.

The official record holder of over 84 kg for women 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 in 2012 in her 30s, having previously competed in men’s weightlifting competitions.

She took a 16-year break from the sport before returning as a woman in 2017.

She won two silver medals at the 200 lb World Championship in California.

She was able to qualify for the Olympics after the International Olympic Committee changed their 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 City amid ongoing debates over the inclusion of trans athletes in female competition.

Born to male, Tiffany Thomas, 46, finished the Randall’s Island Crit bike race on the podium and blew the competition out of the water to take first place.

Despite not taking up cycling until 2018, Tiffany quickly found success and dominated competitions in the years to come.

Riley Gaines was defeated by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the NCAA Championships last year. Thomas competed as a male swimmer for three years before returning as a female and starting to break records in the pool

New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard (pictured) was controversially named Sportswoman of the Year by the University of Otago in New Zealand

Hubbard transitioned in 2012 in her 30s, having previously competed in men’s weightlifting competitions

She recently landed on the top cycling team LA Sweat, where her oldest teammate is only 32.

It comes after the World Athletics announced it would ban transgender athletes who have gone through “male puberty” from participating in sports on the women’s world rankings.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the organization “believes the integrity of the female category in athletics is paramount.”

The decision will prevent Thomas from participating in the world championships or the Olympic Games.