A male powerlifter who has often competed against women and even mocked them for being weak reportedly set a women’s national powerlifting record and an unofficial women’s world record at a championship in Brandon, Manitoba, on Sunday.
Anne Andres, 40, had a total powerlifting score (based on the total of the heaviest weight lifted for the bench press, and deadlift and squat) of 597.5kg, (roughly 1,317 pounds) more than 200 kg than the top-ranked woman, SuJan Gil, who had a score of 387.5kg (854 pounds), at the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s 2023 Western Canadian Championship, according to 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,” Reduux pointed out.
This is NOT a legitimate 🇨🇦National Record.
This is a mediocre lift by a mediocre male who is being allowed to lift against women because… hair colour? 🤔
Shame on the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU).
This is discrimination against the female competitors.#SaveWomensSports pic.twitter.com/F8mdFpnz01— International Consortium on Female Sport (ICFS) (@ICFSport) August 14, 2023
“It’s been very disheartening,” April Hutchinson, a Canadian competitive powerlifter, said on Piers Morgan Uncensored. “For example, that national record that he broke — athletes have been chasing that for years. And we’re talking top athletes who have been training, and training, and training. It goes to show the advantages, the physiological advantages that a male has over a female, whether it’s muscle mass, bone density, lung capacity. I could go on.”
“A lot of women yesterday dropped out of the competition because they knew that Anne would be lifting,” Hutchinson continued. “They dropped, they quit, they wrote to the federation, and the federation basically did nothing about it.”
"A lot of women yesterday dropped out of the competition because they knew that Anne [Andres] would be lifting."
Powerlifter April Hutchinson says the federation is 'doing nothing' amid concerns over a trans woman competing in the female category.@Lea_Christina4 | @RooLockwood pic.twitter.com/otFLjpMllM
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) August 14, 2023
“Today I did some lifting,” Andres wrote on Instagram. “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? 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,” he boasted. “I don’t care about records. I care about being there with my friends. I missed bench because the platform was very slick so I basically Larson pressed my two good lifts. I missed my third dead because I wasn’t strong enough today. Cool story, do better next time, right?”
Linda Blade, founder of the International Consortium on Female Sport, told Reduux, “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. … The CPU insists on championing this unfairness and we condemn it wholeheartedly.”
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The Western Canadian Championships exist under the rubric of the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU), which released its “Trans Inclusion Policy” in February. It stated, “The CPU supports the recommendations outlined in Creating Inclusive Environments for Trans Participants in Canadian Sport, the guidance document developed by the Trans Inclusion in Sport Expert Working Group and published by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES). The CPU adopts the best practices outlined in the document and has used the four Policy Guidance statements in the development of this Trans Inclusion Policy.”
The first Policy Guidance statement read, “Individuals participating in development and recreational sport (LTAD stages Active Start, FUNdamental, Learn to Train, Train to Train, Train to Compete (until international federation rules apply) and Active for Life) should be able to participate in the gender with which they identify and not be subject to requirements for disclosure of personal information beyond those required of cisgender athletes. Nor should there be any requirement for hormonal therapy or surgery.”
Andres said back in February, “Why is women’s bench so bad? I mean not compared to me, we all know that I’m a tranny freak, so that doesn’t count. … I mean, standard bench in powerlifting competitions for women. I literally don’t understand why it’s so bad.”