Avi Silverberg, the head coach for Team Canada Powerlifting, reached his limit with the nonsense going on today and entered a woman’s weightlifting competition in Canada to make his point.
He set and set a new record easily passing the previous mark that was held by a trans lifter. Silverberg, beard and all, entered Saturday’s Heroes Classic tournament in Lethbridge, Alberta, after identifying as a female.
He easily bench-pressed nearly 370 pounds and beat the current Alberta women’s record by almost 100 pounds. The old record was 275 pounds. It was held by trans athlete Anne Andres.
CONS Women, a network of women athletes & our supporters advocating for female protected categories in sport, posted the video of the event that quickly went viral.
ICONs Woman posted a video of the event with the caption:
“Team Canada powerlifting coach, Avi Silverberg just broke the Alberta WOMEN’s bench press record in the 84+ kg category at the “Heroes Classic.”
“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 The New York Post:
According to ICONS, “what Avi so obviously points out is that policies allowing men access to women’s sports completely remove any integrity in women’s competitions.”
“It doesn’t matter how Avi expresses himself or perceives himself. He clearly does not belong in women’s sport, and neither does any other male regardless of their motivation for wanting to participate.”
Silverberg, who is also an online coach and powerlifting columnist, has not directly addressed the competition.
However, Andres posted a series of lengthy video responses calling him “a coward and a bigot” with “malicious intent.”
Still, in one clip, she openly admitted that “maybe my participation isn’t necessarily fair — you know, there’s science, whatever.”
🏋️♂️ Team Canada powerlifting coach, Avi Silverberg just broke the Alberta WOMEN’s bench press record in the 84+ kg category at the “Heroes Classic.”
Former record holder, trans-identifying male, Anne Andres had a front row view as Silverberg mocked the discriminatory CPU policy… pic.twitter.com/ajhUJPB4gc
— ICONS Women (@icons_women) March 27, 2023
Outrage in the sport began after disrespectful post from trans-identifying male powerlifter went viral months agohttps://t.co/MPjtTlASNv
— ICONS Women (@icons_women) March 27, 2023
