Janae had a very successful powerlifting and bodybuilding career before her 2015 transition. Competing as Matt, she was named the Arnold Classic WPO Powerlifting Middleweight Champion in 2006, and later accomplished a 2,551-pound total lift (738-pound bench, 810-pound deadlift, and 1,003-pound squat) at the UPA Powerlifting Nationals in 2009—it was a world record in the 220-pound weight class at the time, but was broken about a year later.
Her career was put on hold in 2015 when she came out as transgender, shortly after a video outing her began to go viral. In an exclusive interview with M&F, Janae said she was done hiding.
“I can remember being five, six years old and already having these feelings of needing to be female,” Janae said. “I would daydream about being a girl. I’d be doing the things I’d normally do, but doing them as a girl. There was a lot of shame. I didn’t know why I felt that way.”
Since going public with her transition, Janae hasn’t competed in any shows, but it’s clear she hasn’t stopped lifting either.
Although she uses female pronouns, Janae identifies as gender fluid—meaning her gender identity is not fixed. “I have a female gender identity, but … everything traditionally that describes being feminine doesn’t necessarily apply to me,” she told The Independent. “Sometimes I’m more feminine or more masculine, and there’s movement with that.”
Competing in the men’s category, she said on Instagram, will not change how she identifies herself, and it says nothing about her beliefs regarding trans athletes and fair competition. She simply feels that competing in the men’s category is what’s right for her.
