Transgender weightlifter smashes women's world records, sparking backlash from Olympians

A transgender weightlifter is receiving backlash after racking up multiple wins during the 100% Raw Weightlifting Federation competition in Virginia over the weekend.

Mary Gregory, an American powerlifter and strength coach, took to Instagram on Sunday to announce she had gone "9 for 9" at the competition and broken four women's world records: Masters world squat record, open world bench record, Masters world deadlift record and Masters world total record.

"Still processing, full meet recap to come a bit later," she wrote, before thanking those who made her feat possible, including the competition's organizers.

"A huge thank you to @raw_powerlifting_federation_ , from the bottom of my heart!" Gregory said. "As a transgender lifter I was unsure what to expect going into this meet and everyone- all the spotters, loaders, referees, staff, meet director, all made me welcome and treated me as just another female lifter- thank you!"

However, despite her own enthusiasm, Gregory's win seems to have angered a few other athletes, including former British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies and British track Olympian Kelly Holmes.

Davies took to Twitter to express her disdain over Gregory competing as a woman, writing, "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."

Piggybacking on Davies' sentiment, Holmes chimed in, writing Gregory's record-setting was "a bloody joke" and that biological women may start to "boycott certain events."

"Have a trans category if need be but even better a trans games," she continued. "Otherwise i’m starting to worry about the backlash and abuse that the trans community will get from spectators. It will happen!"

Davies, a vocal supporter of Fair Play For Women, a group which describes itself as being "concerned about the impact of transgender policy on the participation of women and girls in sport," later returned to social media to double down on her critique.

"The reason we have men & women’s races are because we are biologically different," she wrote. "Performance 100% confirms that. The reason steroids (including testosterone) are on the banned list is because using them gives you an advantage. FairPlay is racing by biology by sex not by gender."

Despite some backlash and negative comments, Gregory expressed her gratitude to people on Instagram who "reached out to offer your support" following her wins.