Like most sports, there is no shortage of conflict in powerlifting. The most common type of conflict(s) is disagreement with referees, rivalries between competitive athletes/groups/federations, and whether or not someone is cheating. More recently, however, there has been a burgeoning conflict sweeping across the entirety of powerlifting: should transgendered athletes be permitted to compete in regular competition against cisgendered athletes? On April 27th, 2019, a male-to-female trans athlete (Mary Gregory) competed in competition and won in each category, earning a world-record title (Hensley, 2019). Her win automatically flagged her for drug testing, as is common practice in powerlifting. Mary then disclosed that she was transgendered and taking doctor-prescribed female hormones, and subsequently the federation overseeing the meet stripped her of her titles. There is much debate on whether or not born-males will forever have an advantage over born-female competitors, regardless of hormone replacement therapy, and even still, the general rule in powerlifting is that there are NO exceptions for banned substances in drug-tested competition. The position of the International Olympic Committee is that male-to-female competitors must not exceed certain levels of testosterone in their blood serums over a 1 year period prior to competition, and that once self-identified as a different gender, competitors must compete as that gender for at least 4 years. Some powerlifting federations have adopted the IOC rules, and others’ have flat-out rejected them. I would say that this conflict is not quite resolved, as the community is still working through it. To date, there has been at least one demonstrative protest in support of trans athletes: competitors at a Minnesota meet refused to lift and instead stood motionless on the platform during their attempts.
Reference
Hensley, L. (2019, May 15). Transgender weightlifter stripped of titles after organization says she can't compete as woman. Retrieved July 4, 2019, from https://globalnews.ca/news/5274675/transgender-weightlifter-stripped-of-titles-cant-compete-as-a-woman/
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