Now that's about a 20% drop in all her lifts after going on HRT, and about a 20% drop in bodyweight. That's to be expected as the body adapts to the new hormone levels. In powerlifting, we use the Wilks coefficient to determine the best lifter across all weight classes. It takes your total, and modifies it based on a mathematical formula to allow you to compare yourself against everyone else. Men and women use different formulas as their physiology is different.
Mary's Wilks score using the male data was 337. After 9 months of HRT, when Mary competed in the female division her score jumped up to 399. That's a 62 point jump (a 20% increase) in her abilities compared to her peers in less than a year. So in nine months, on HRT which reduces testosterone, muscle mass etc, Mary had gains the likes of which are only seen in brand new lifters who are still learning how to powerlift.
When I compared Mary's results to the database in Open Powerlifting, a website dedicated to recording statistics for all powerlifting federations around the world, here's what I got.
In the 40-44 age group, Mary's male ranking was at the 38th percentile. So better than average, but still middle of the pack. Using her numbers as a female, she moved into the 6th percentile. So top 10% in all of women's drug tested powerlifting in that age group. If all things were equal in the HRT process, we should have seen Mary's results put her in the 38th percentile of female lifters, but that clearly did not happen.
Once again, I have to stress that neither I, or my federation wants to ban lifters like Mary from competing. In fact one of our core beliefs is that if you can lift a barbell, and you aren't taking PED's, then you have a place with us. But it's very clear based on the numbers provided that Mary received a performance boost from transitioning from a male to a female lifter compared to her peer group. That's not at all fair to the rest of the lifters in that division.
tl;dr. She had a massive advantage due to biology
I'm assuming she was fairly lean in the former?. Losing 37lbs will definitely make you weaker in your lifts. wonder how often she tried to lift when she was losing weight. but yeah, even the latter is far stronger than the average and athletic woman, at least for upper body.
anyway, let's look it from a natural born woman's perspective. I can totally see how many would be against this, and how they could be at a huge diadvantage vs trans women due to being born with a smaller frame, less bone density, smaller/thinner arms, joints etc. This doesn't even include muscle mass post operation too.
More studies need to be done, and there likely needs to be put some heavy regulations unfortunately. heck sports regulators might not even think it would be worth the effort, and they could be limited to mixed sports teams, men's or free for all. It sucks for everyone involved.
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Less is more. Everything you want, isn't everything you need.