Female powerlifter April Hutchinson said it's "completely unfair" that a transgender athlete won the Canadian Powerlifting Union's 2023 Western Canadian Championship over the weekend with a record-breaking lift of 440 more pounds than the second-place finisher.
"My boyfriend could basically walk in tomorrow, identify as a female, compete, and then the next day, go back to being a man again," Hutchinson, who has been a powerlifter with the union for about four years, told Talk TV, reported The New York Post, while speaking out about the winner, Anne Andres, 40, a transgender woman.
"No proof, no ID required, just basically going on how you feel that day or whatever gender you want to it," Hutchinson said.
She said many other female powerlifters do not agree with the federation allowing transgender women to compete in women's events.
Andres lifted a total weight of 1,317 pounds in squat, bench, and deadlift. The closest opponent, SuJan Gill, finished at 854 pounds. Andres lifts set a new Canadian women's national record, and an unofficial women's world record.
"It's been very disheartening the national record that he broke," Hutchinson said. "Athletes have been chasing that for years, and we're talking we're talking top athletes who have been training and training and training."
Some women dropped out of the competition after learning Andres would compete.
"It's bodies that play sports, not identities," Hutchinson she said. "Remember, bodies are biology, not identities that play sports."
Andres has previously been accused of mocking female competitors.
"We all know that I'm a tranny freak, so that doesn't count," Andres has said. "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. I mean, standard bench in powerlifting competition for women. I literally don't understand why it's so bad."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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