In an act protesting bizarre rules that the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU) maintains allowing males who “identify” as females to compete in women’s competitions, Avi Silverberg, the head coach of Team Canada’s powerlifting team, entered the “Heroes Classic” event in Lethbridge, Alberta, on March 25, casually “identified” as a female, and destroyed the province’s current record for the female bench press by nearly 100 lbs.
The bearded Silverberg, wearing a male singlet, benched almost 370 lbs., besting the previous record held by Anne Andres, a biological male “identifying” as a female. Andres was in the crowd while Silverberg annihilated “her” record.
Silverberg had never identified as female prior to the Alberta event, but was apparently able to produce a passport saying that he was a female — pretty much the only documentation that the CPU requires to enter such a competition.
Other powerlifting governing bodies have rules allowing biological males to compete with females, but typically insist that competitors maintain certain levels of testosterone and have “identified” as female for a number of years.
Silverberg has not yet commented publicly on the stunt, probably believing that it was enough of a statement in itself.
However, Andres, whose record was obliterated by Silverberg, took to Instagram to make his feelings known. Andres referred to Silverberg as “bigot” and a “coward,” but also claimed that his actions amounted to “nothing.”
“Yes, somebody did show up at the meet today with malicious intent. And, you know what? There was, it was a nothing. It was just entirely ignored,” Andres mused.
Andres then admitted that his competition in a women’s event might not be fair.
“It really struck me that, maybe my participation isn’t necessarily fair. I mean, you know there’s science, whatever…”
Andres can take comfort in the fact that he still holds the Alberta female record for the deadlift, at 544 lbs., although on his Instagram he reveals he has higher goals for that event: “Aiming for 600lb deadlift world record!”
It’s not the first time Andres has felt the need to comment on the state of his female sport. In November he drew ire from many for questioning why the bench press competition in women’s weightlifting was “so bad.”
“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. And no, we’re not talking about Mackenzie Lee, she’s got little T-Rex arms and she’s like 400 pounds of chest muscle apparently,” Andres said. “I’m legit seeing some women in competition who are doing something like 50 lbs. And I just don’t understand it. I don’t understand why so many women are skipping bench and focusing on everything else.”
Perhaps those women understand that competing against a male in an event that requires great upper body strength is a fool’s errand.
While Andres and transgender activists who are busy planning their “Day of Rage” on Saturday were upset with Silverberg’s protest, people with common sense lauded his effort to show the ridiculousness of the CPU’s rules.
“Well, a man is stepping up to show the ridiculousness of it all. Bless him. And taking what it thought was a gimme is………….priceless. Sympathy to the real women who work so hard,” wrote Twitter user Ladycourt.
“I think this proves a point. If a guy can just show up and then set the … record, doesn’t that prove that it’s not fair? So how long before the powers-that-be suddenly wake up, smell the coffee and understand that if you’re born a female you’re not gonna be as powerful, as strong … as if you were born a male,” said bodybuilding influencer Greg Doucette.
To Doucette, the answer is to add a “trans” category to sports in which males clearly dominate females. “To me the answer is simple — we add a separate category, a new category, the trans category.”
Others believe that the answer is far simpler — just stop allowing delusional people who believe that they’re women when they’re actually men to have any say in the matter.
