First-time competitor Kristine Bayntun, along with other female powerlifters, sounded alarm on male takeover following a court ruling favoring the Trans community.
Bayntun reportedly had no idea that she had been bested by a man during the British Columbia Powerlifting Association Fall Classic in 2019 until she heard the winner speak as he accepted his trophy.
In an interview with the National Review, Bayntun revealed that what she heard when the winner spoke was “a man’s voice.”
“I said, ‘Okay, what’s going on here?’ I had no idea that was even allowed. But I was just happy to be there so I said, ‘Whatever,’” she added.
According to the reports, Bayntun didn’t have her suspicions confirmed until this year when she saw a post on Instagram and learned that the person who bested her is a actually a male “who is allowed to compete against women without any restrictions under the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s (CPU) trans-competition policy, which doesn’t even require male competitors to disclose their sex to their female opponents,” National Review reported.
Bayntun claimed that “someone had posted it on Instagram and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s crazy, I’m pretty sure that’s the same person I competed against. I didn’t know for sure and now I’m finding out four years later.”
The controversy surfaced following a Minnesota court ruling last week which suggested that the United States may be following Canada’s policy.
On Tuesday, the district court ruled that the USA Powerlifting “must allow transgender athletes to compete in the women’s division, giving the federation just two weeks to reverse the sex-segregated policy it had instituted to protect female lifters,” National Review reported.
The decision came following a controversy that arose after a legal battle was initiated by JayCee Cooper, a transgender-identifying man who sued an organization for discrimination.
According to the reports, the organization prohibited Cooper from entering the Minnesota state bench-press championship four years ago.
After the court ruling, the USA Powerlifting released a striking statement, claiming that it disagreed with the ruling and announcing an appeal.
“Our position has been aimed at balancing the needs of cis- and transgender women, whose capacities differ significantly in purely strength sports. We respectfully disagree with the Court’s conclusions and its basis. We have filed an appeal,” the organization said.
