Fox News Flash top sports headlines for August 14
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Riley Gaines, an advocate for women’s sports, called out Canada prime minister Justin Trudeau after a transwoman set a national and unofficial world record in powerlifting on Sunday.
Anne Andres, a 40-year-old biological male who identifies as a woman who currently holds multiple powerlifting records in the female division, was competing at the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s 2023 Western Canadian Championship on Sunday in the Female Masters Unequipped category when she blew out her opponents.
Her total weight lifted in squat, bench and deadlift resulted in a final score of 597.5 kilograms, which was over 200 kilograms more than her closest opponent, SuJan Gill, who finished at 387.5 kilograms.
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Riley Gaines, American competitive swimmer, speaks before Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis at the Greenville Convention Center on Friday, June 2, 2023. (MCKENZIE LANGE/Staff/USA TODAY NETWORK)
With that total, Andres set a new Canadian women’s national record at the championship, while it also being an unofficial women’s world record.
In response, Gaines took to social media to blast Trudeau’s policies which allow the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU) to have a gender self-identification Trans Inclusion Policy, announced earlier this year, that allows males to participate in women’s competitions based on gender alone.
"Andres’ record is a mediocre lift by a mediocre male powerlifter because the Canadian powerlifting union is discriminating against female athletes," Gaines said, referring to Andres as male, while captioning her X post saying Trudeau’s "radical disdain for women (and reality)" was "in effect."
MALE POWERLIFTER BREAKS WOMEN'S RECORD HELD BY A BIOLOGICAL MALE IN PROTEST OF TRANSGENDER POLICIES
Gaines also shared a video of Andres speaking about women’s powerlifting, where she rips her competition’s ability to bench.
"Why is women’s bench so bad? I mean, not compared to me," Andres began her argument. "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. I mean, standard bench in powerlifting competition for women. I literally don’t understand why it’s so bad."
"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," Gaines said, referring to Andres. "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."
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Riley Gaines addresses the crowd at Madison Public Library in Madison, Alabama, Saturday August 5, 2023. This event is part of a reading tour of 300 libraries by Kirk Cameron which promotes books with Christian values. (Dana Mixer for Fox News Digital)
April Hutchinson, a Canadian competitive powerlifter, spoke out after Andres’ record-breaking performance as well.
"It’s been very disheartening," she said on Piers Morgan Uncensored. "For example, that national record that he broke — athletes have been chasing that for years. And we’re talking top athletes who have been training, and training, and training. It goes to show the advantages, the physiological advantages that a male has over a female, whether it’s muscle mass, bone density, lung capacity. I could go on.
"A lot of women yesterday dropped out of the competition because they knew that Anne would be lifting. They dropped, they quit, they wrote to the federation, and the federation basically did nothing about it."
Andres posted to her Instagram after winning the competition.
"Today I did some lifting. Not just some lifting. I got to lift with friends from across Canada. Friends who welcome me and love me and want me to be there," she captioned her post. "Friends who support trying to be the best me. I couldn’t ask for me than that, could I?"
File - Nakatsuji Katsuhito of Japan places weights onto the bar as he warms up in the practice area ahead of the Men's up to 107kg during day four of the Para Powerlifting World Cup at Wythenshawe Forum on March 28, 2021 in Manchester, England. (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
"Keep in mind I turned 40 a week ago so suddenly being master 1 is kind of hollow. That in mind, I got every masters record and two unofficial world masters records I don’t care about records. I care about being there with my friends."
Back in March, Andres was in national headlines after male powerlifting coach Avi Silverberg, who worked with Team Canada, entered a competition in protest of the transgender policies laid out by the CPU.
He self-identified as a woman and shattered the 84+ kilogram category whose record holder is Andres. She was present to watch Silverberg break the bench press record at the "Heroes Classic."
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Riley Gaines side by side (Getty Images)
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"Based on this background and available evidence, the Expert Working Group felt that trans athletes should be able to participate in the gender with which they identify, regardless of whether or not they have undergone hormone therapy," the Trans Inclusion Policy, which was officially released in February, stated.