The title of Alberta, Canada’s top female powerlifter, now belongs to Avi Silverberg, a 250-pound biological man with a beard. Silverberg, the head coach for Canada’s national powerlifting team, entered the women’s contest last weekend after self-identifying as a female to protest the organization’s lenient “trans-inclusive” policies. Silverberg casually benched nearly 370 pounds during the contest, destroying the previous record of 275 pounds… which was held by a different biological man.
Avi Silverberg has been head coach of the national team for more than ten years. On Saturday, he entered the Women’s Heroes Classic tournament in Lethbridge, Alberta, after telling event organizers that he was female. Silverberg, who once benched more than 640 pounds in 2014, put up just 370 pounds at the tournament and still blew away the previous record.
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Congratulations to Avi Silverberg on becoming the new Canadian women's powerlifting champion! pic.twitter.com/IJBDCW92d6
— Dave Hickey (@BaconTrader) March 30, 2023
Anne Andres, the previous record holder, volunteered at the event and watched as Silverberg won the title. Andres is a biological male who identifies as female.
“Team Canada powerlifting coach Avi Silverberg just broke the Alberta WOMEN’s bench press record in the 84+ kg category at the ‘Heroes Classic,'” The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) stated after the event.
“Former record holder, trans-identifying male, Anne Andres had a front row view as Silverberg mocked the discriminatory CPU policy by also unofficially breaking the women’s world record in the event.”
According to ICONS, Andres has entered nine women’s tournaments over the past four years and has taken the top spot eight times. The trans powerlifter also holds the local women’s title for deadlifting and squatting.
The Canadian Powerlifting Union’s (CPU) trans inclusion policy has been criticized in the past for its leniency, which includes allowing competitors to “participate in the gender with which they identify” as opposed to restricting participation based on biological sex. The CPU’s policy states that,
“Individuals… 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.”
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While Silverberg has not publicly commented on his decision to enter the tournament, ICONS applauded the Canadian coach for his decision,
“What Avi so obviously points out is that policies allowing men access to women’s sports completely remove any integrity in women’s competitions.”
In January, Anne Andres was criticized for an “offensive” video where he asked, “why is women’s bench so bad?”
🏋️Trans identifying male, Anne Andres is Alberta Canada's women's powerlifting record holder in bench
🚨competes next month in women's category at the 2023 CPU National Championships🚩Recognizes no understanding of upper body strength differences btw males & females
🧵 pic.twitter.com/DYEyEWZTLr— ICONS Women (@icons_women) January 4, 2023
Since Silverberg’s protest, Andres has accused the powerlifting coach of being “a coward and a bigot” who acted with “malicious intent.” In one clip posted to Instagram, Andres suggested that “maybe my participation isn’t necessarily fair. You know, there’s science, whatever,” but continued to attack Silverberg for entering the contest.
Riley Gaines, a 12-time All-American swimmer from the University of Kentucky, blasted Andres in a statement.
“Anne Andres (male who identifies and competes as a woman) doesn’t understand why female powerlifters are so “bad” at bench press….well idk Anne, but maybe it’s because you have 20 times more testosterone than them. Just a thought….”
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