Avi Silverberg Sets New Women's Bench Press Record
Team Canada's coach breaks female record previously held by transgender male.
By JOHN LEAKE
Hats off to Avi Silverberg—Team Canada’s power lifting coach—for finding the courage to identify himself as a female in order to enter the Canadian women’s powerlifting division. To paraphrase George Gershwin’s 1926 American Songbook Classic, “Someone to Watch Over Me”:
Although he may not be
The girl some men think of as pretty
To my heart, she carries the key.
Call it a weakness for “strong women”—I just can’t resist Avi’s bold freshness in his approach to being feminine.
And my goodness, is he shattering the glass ceiling of Canadian women’s powerlifting. With ease he broke the previous bench press record, held by transgender athlete, Anne Andres, who won eight of the last nine competitions she entered.
Avi scarcely broke a sweat as he shattered the women’s record of 167.5 kilograms (369.3 pounds), set by Anne. To be sure, Anna admitted that her record in the women’s division wan’t very impressive. As she once remarked:
I mean, standard bench in powerlifting competitions for women. I literally don’t understand why it is so bad.
In the so-called “Men’s Division” of powerlifting, top competitors are now benching between 500 to 600 kilograms (between 1,130 and 1,150 pounds) but who’s counting!
Congratulations Avi, for elevating the Visibility of transgender athletes.
For more information about this momentous occasion in women’s competition sports, please see today’s report in the bodybuilding magazine, Fitness Volt.
I am making an assumption here which I know is dangerous but, I like to live dangerously....
So did he, Avi just declare himself a woman to compete in the category looking like the biological male that he is to point out the absurdity of all this and to put Anna in their place? If not, perhaps a real man should do this to make a point and ruin the unfair game.
FANTASTIC! Two can play that game eh? As Canadians say! All Avi needed was a little pink bow on the top of his head. Thank God people are starting to fight back!