A male professional powerlifter recently entered a women’s competition by simply stating that he identified as a woman and easily won first place by smashing the regional record for bench pressing by almost 100 pounds.
Avi Silverberg, the head coach for Team Canada Powerlifting, entered the Heroes Classic women’s tournament in Lethbridge, Alberta on Saturday by identifying as a woman, despite being fully bearded and having undergone no hormone therapy. The tournament rules stated that participants “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,” so Silverberg decided to prove a point. He casually walked on stage and bench-pressed nearly 370 pounds, beating the Alberta women’s record (275 pounds) by almost 100 pounds.
