Swim star Riley Gaines has taken aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after a transgender athlete set an unofficial world record in powerlifting.
Anne Andres, 40, who currently holds multiple powerlifting records in the women’s division, competed at the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s 2023 Western Canadian Championship.
She took part in the Female Masters Unequipped category, lifting more than 200kg than her closest opponent, SuJan Gill.
The total meant Andres set a new Canadian woman’s national record at the championship – which is also an unofficial women’s world record.
After the contest Gaines blasted Trudeau’s policies that allowed the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU) to have a gender self-identification Trans Inclusion Policy.
It means that anyone who self-identifies as a woman can compete and does not have to prove they are going through gender-affirming care.
Gaines said in a video posted online: ‘Andres’ record is a mediocre lift by a mediocre male powerlifter because the Canadian powerlifting union is discriminating against female athletes.’
Andres’ total powerlifting score was 597.5kg (the total sum of the heaviest weight lifted in squat, bench and deadlift.) This was more than 200kg than her next nearest competitor, SuJan Gill, at 387.5kg.
By comparison, the top performing male athlete competing in the men’s Masters category in 2022 had a total score of 850kg – more than 250kg higher than Andre.
Gaines captioned the video ‘Justin Trudeau’s radical disdain for women (and reality) in effect’, with a clown emoji.
The ex-NCAA swimmer also took aim at Andres, who transitioned more than 20 years ago, for a video where she appeared to mock her female competitors.
Andres posted a video last year questioning why women’s bench is ‘so bad’, before saying another powerlifter has ‘tiny little T-Rex arms’.
The footage also included the powerlifter referring to herself as a ‘t****y freak’ so she ‘doesn’t count’ in her ‘controversial opinion’.
‘My son he weighs 45lb, his max bench is like 33lb. I’m legit seeing some women in competition doing something like 50lb and I just don’t understand.
‘I don’t understand why so many women are skipping bench and focusing on everything else. That’s my controversial thing today. ‘
DailyMail.com did not receive an immediate response after contacting Andres for comment over the footage and the new record.
Gaines hit back at the footage in her new video, saying: ‘Let’s rephrase that: Women’s bench might be bad to you because you are a male who has gone through male puberty with a male amount of testosterone.
‘Being a woman or female athlete doesn’t mean we’re inferior or not capable of accomplishing incredible things, but it means we’re different from men.
‘That’s exactly why the women’s sporting category was ever even created. And we deserve to be recognized and celebrated based off those physical ceilings and our own uniqueness.’
The issue of allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sport has become increasingly contentious after a series of high-profile cases.
In 2022 transgender swimmer Lia Thomas divided the sports community after spending three years on the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s swimming team.
