A 40-year-old powerlifter who was born a male but now identifies as a woman has set national and unofficial world records in powerlifting, leading to criticism over gender self-identification policies in women’s sports in Canada.
The weightlifter, Anne Andres, set the records on Aug. 13 at the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s 2023 Western Canadian Championship, competing in the Female Masters Unequipped category in Brandon, Manitoba. The category is for female powerlifters aged 40 and 50 who do not use any equipment and lift raw weights.
Andres’s final weight score across three lifts was 597.5 kilograms, more than 200 kilograms (almost 450 pounds) higher weight than the second-place finisher, SuJan Gill, a woman who lifted 387.5 kilograms in squat, bench, and deadlift. Andres also set a national Canadian record for deadlift.
“The CPU wants to ensure that all participants have access to programming and facilities in which they feel comfortable and safe,” states the policy.
Criticism
Reacting to Anders’ new records, Riley Gaines, an American competitive swimmer advocating for women-only sports, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Aug. 14, and called for women’s sports to be recognized and celebrated, based on women’s “physical ceilings and our own uniqueness.”
“The Canadian Powerlifting Union is discriminating against female athletes,” Gaines said.
Gaines’ comment was one of the many critical commentaries on Anders’ participation in the competition.
Responding to Epoch Times’ request for comment, Andres said “My opinion doesn’t matter,” and that the women taking the second and third spots in the competition should be asked for their comment instead. The Epoch Times couldn’t reach them for comment.
“The women I have shared the platform with either don’t think I have an advantage, or they want me there in spite of it. If there is an advantage we don’t have anywhere near enough science. However, I choose to put myself and endure this malarkey because I respect other women in sport so if I am indeed ‘cheating’ I need permission first,” Anders said.
The weightlifter added: “I never entered a gym for 13 years after transition,” objecting that media articles often report the story as if Anders “switched over while at the peak of competition or something.”
Responding to a critical post on Instagram, Andres said: “It’s mind blowing how people can go out of their way to save women’s sports when nobody is asking them to. If you’re a terf [trans-exclusionary radical feminist], just go be a terf.”
The response was to a female poster who said that she was a supporter of the LGBT community, but felt it was “disgraceful and disrespectful to compete against women... biological men are naturally stronger, faster and have greater lung capacity than biological women.”
‘Fairness’
Former Florida quarterback and athlete Tim Tebow went on a show with Dan Dackish in the United States on Aug. 15, on the topic of men identifying as females competing in women’s sports, and said, “I just believe in fairness.”“So many of those girls work so hard to be able to compete and be their best. And I love giving them a chance to compete in a fair way so that they can strive to be their best,” Tebow said.
April Hutchinson, a powerlifter with Team Canada who holds a North American record for deadlift, posted on Aug. 15 that she “unfortunately” has to “compete against that 250lb 6FT man in my federation the CPU,” referring to Andres.
“It’s so important to keep women’s and girls’ sports fair and safe,” she said, adding that anyone supporting men lifting or competing with women “is part of the problem. And they should be ashamed ... they are literally helping erase women’s sports,” Hutchinson said. “Bodies play sports, not identities,” she added.
