A power lifter who transitioned from a male to a female has been stripped of their world titles after the sport’s governing body in the US said the competitor was a man.
Mary Gregory, from Virginia, set world records in the women’s squat, bench press, and deadlift, and had earned a ‘Masters total world record’ for her powerlifting scores across the board last month.
But now, RAW Powerlifting Federation – the same body she thanked after winning – stripped Gregory of her titles, saying that the lifter ‘was actually a male’ when competing.
On Friday Federation president Paul Bossi said in a statement to media: ‘It was revealed that this female lifter was actually a male in the process of becoming a Transgender female.
‘Our rules, and the basis of separating genders for competition, are based on physiological classification rather than identification.’
‘On the basis of all information presented to the Board of Directors for this particular case,’ Bossi continued, ‘the conclusion made, is that the correct physiological classification is male.’
Dallas public defender’s chief investigator charged with wife’s murder after bloody apartment discovery
Tensions flare as demonstrators target Jewish restaurants, drawing massive counterprotest
Joe Biden says cancer slowed him down, limiting memoir promotion tour
Trump says he was ‘only kidding’ about making Dana White press secretary
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Richard Walters exits job ahead of Stephen Miller takeover
Gun Rights Under Threat in Unlikely Places as Midterm Wipeout Hands Gun-Control Advocates Major Foothold
Collision between two trains in Egypt kills seven and injures more than 100
After GOP’s brutal midterms, ‘Chuck Norris of Florida politics’ tells party to ‘get up and fight’
No Star-Spangled Banner in Sight: First-Ever Palestinian State Lawmaker Immediately Celebrates Win with Palestinian Flag
AI Systems Indirectly Endangering US Troops, Turning Them Into Easy Targets for Enemy Drones
Dunleavy calls Alaska voting system ‘very confusing’ as razor-thin Senate race frozen in time
11th-hour power play targets incoming Dem governor after historic GOP defeat
Watch: Shaq Snubs Angel Reese When She Asks for Picture, Instead Hits Her with Same Insult Gesture She Uses on Other Players
Trump ‘holds all the cards’ in war against Iran’s regime, White House says
Stephen Colbert accused of crossing Harvard picket line before event with Yo-Yo Ma cut short by alarm
Ex-British Olympic swimmer, Sharron Davies – who has been vocal on the issue – tweeted her satisfaction at the decision.
She said: ‘This is a trans woman a male body with male physiology setting a world record & winning a woman’s event in America in powerlifting.
‘A woman with female biology cannot compete.. it’s a pointless unfair playing field.’
Bossi added that because Gregory could not be officially classified as ‘female,’ she didn’t technically break any world records.
Following her success at the event last month, Gregory took to Instagram to thank the federation for making her feel welcome as a transgender athlete and treating her as ‘just another female lifter.’
Gregory told Outsports that the federation discovered she was assigned male at birth by insisting that an official sit in while she took a urine test.
She said: ‘I did my business while somebody watched me sitting on the toilet. And so that’s where that statement comes from, because I’m sure she told them, ‘Hey! This girl’s got a penis!’
The decision by the federation comes even as Gregory used hormone blockers to regulate her testosterone levels for 11 months before her world title shot.
The International Olympic Committee ruled in 2016 that this created a level playing field but because she isn’t biologically the same as the other competitors, RAW ruled that Gregory was not eligible to compete.
Dallas public defender’s chief investigator charged with wife’s murder after bloody apartment discovery
Tensions flare as demonstrators target Jewish restaurants, drawing massive counterprotest
Joe Biden says cancer slowed him down, limiting memoir promotion tour
Trump says he was ‘only kidding’ about making Dana White press secretary
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Richard Walters exits job ahead of Stephen Miller takeover
Gun Rights Under Threat in Unlikely Places as Midterm Wipeout Hands Gun-Control Advocates Major Foothold
Collision between two trains in Egypt kills seven and injures more than 100
After GOP’s brutal midterms, ‘Chuck Norris of Florida politics’ tells party to ‘get up and fight’
No Star-Spangled Banner in Sight: First-Ever Palestinian State Lawmaker Immediately Celebrates Win with Palestinian Flag
AI Systems Indirectly Endangering US Troops, Turning Them Into Easy Targets for Enemy Drones
Dunleavy calls Alaska voting system ‘very confusing’ as razor-thin Senate race frozen in time
11th-hour power play targets incoming Dem governor after historic GOP defeat
Watch: Shaq Snubs Angel Reese When She Asks for Picture, Instead Hits Her with Same Insult Gesture She Uses on Other Players
Trump ‘holds all the cards’ in war against Iran’s regime, White House says
Stephen Colbert accused of crossing Harvard picket line before event with Yo-Yo Ma cut short by alarm
USA Powerlifting passed a policy banning transitioning athletes from competing against athletes that match their ‘gender identity’ by a vote of 46-5 last week.
The board explained the decision, saying: ‘Men naturally have a larger bone structure, higher bone density, stronger connective tissue and higher muscle density than women.
‘These traits, even with reduced levels of testosterone do not go away. While MTF (male to female) may be weaker and less muscle than they once were, the biological benefits given them at birth still remain over than of a female.’
Story cited here.
