People often ask me what on earth possessed me to take up Olympic weightlifting?
Chapter One: Prelude
I grew up in the northern suburbs of Sydney, in a reasonably affluent suburb in the 1970’s and 80’s. I never took much interest in sports at school and was encouraged by my parents to follow more academic pursuits.
At primary school, I played a little bit of sport, but never excelled at anything. I played Centre position in the B team in Netball, and was pitcher of the B team in Softball.
My dad was fairly sporty, mainly he enjoyed running. He ran cross country for his school, and then later he ran marathons. My mother was not very sporty at all, although for a few years she took up squash.
As a teenager at High School, I was shorter than most in my class, and cared more than I should about my appearance and what other people thought about me. My parents didn’t allow me to take any elective sewing or cooking subjects at school preferring me to take more academic subjects like science, history and economics. However, I did manage to convince them to let me take elective PE (Physical Education), which they thought would be good for my health – whilst I thought it would be a good bludge. In reality I was like most girls my age and was more interested in things like boys, pop music, makeup, clothes, going to the beach and parties. I played tennis on Saturday mornings as a young teenager, tried gymnastics briefly, then tried my hand at squash for a while, before deciding that the only ‘sport’ I really enjoyed was aerobics.
When I left school, I started teaching aerobics while at University studying a Bachelor of Economics. I found it a great way of keeping fit, while listening to the latest music and earning money. The hours were flexible so it fitted in perfectly with my study schedule, and it improved my self confidence and communication skills, as well as keeping my weight down. I have always enjoyed food and being vertically challenged (5’0″ / 153cm) it is too easy for me to put on weight!
After I graduated from University I decided to travel to England, to visit my grandmother and uncle and also travel around Europe. I met up with my sister who had gone over a few months earlier, and a friend from Uni. I met heaps of interesting people during this period, including my future husband and a great influence on my life, Steve. He shared my enthusiasm for the gym and introduced me to the sport of Powerlifting.
The Powerlifting days
Working full time for an Insurance broking company in Bournemouth, England, I still kept teaching a couple of aerobics classes a week, but was finding it difficult to be disciplined with my own training. I enjoyed ‘playing with weights’ in the gym as an alternative to aerobics, but often found at the end of a full day at work it was tempting to go home and put my feet up and watch Eastenders! Steve suggested I try Powerlifting because I would have a goal, a competition to train for. That would give me the discipline to train. So I started training with a girl I knew at the gym called Jodi…she quit a few months later, but I got hooked. Every time I improved and was able to add some more weight to the bar I got such a great feeling of achievement and satisfaction…I was addicted!
Plus it was very social. There was a group of 6 of us training at the same gym, including Steve, Dean, Lee, Sarah and Vanessa, all in different weight classes, training for the same goal, encouraging each other. There was a real team atmosphere, we all became the best of friends and we all drove each other to success, guided and coached by the gym owner, our mentor (and Vanessa’s partner), Brian.
In 1995 we competed at the British Championships, European Championships and World Championships. I broke all the British and European records in the 52kg class and came 2nd at the World Championships in Columbus, Ohio, in the USA. My best competition lifts at 52kg were a 150kg squat, 92.5kg bench-press and 162.5kg deadlift. You can watch some lifts from the 1996 British Championships here.
In July 1996 after competing at the British Championships, Steve and I packed up and moved to Sydney, Australia. We continued competing although found it very difficult to stay motivated. Powerlifting is not a big sport in Australia and at first we couldn’t find any one else in Sydney who competed, nor a gym with a suitable environment to train in. In the end, we eventually met up with some people interstate and travelled to a few interstate competitions. We also managed one more World Championships later in 1996, in Durban, South Africa, where again I came 2nd.
I started to find it increasingly difficult to diet down to 52kg for competition. As I got stronger my muscles became more toned and I put on a little extra muscle, not much, but it weighed more. So I decided to compete at 56kg in my last competition in 1997 at the Australian Championships in Brisbane. At 56kg I performed much better and broke the Australian records with a 165kg squat, 100kg bench-press and 165kg deadlift. At the same competition, Steve broke a sub-masters world record in the 110kg class with a 335kg deadlift.
After that competition and towards the end of 1997, I was working full time as an insurance broker, whilst I continued and enjoyed training 3 – 4 times a week. However, my interest in competitive Powerlifting started to diminish. I felt like I had pretty much reached my limit, unless I wanted to take the next step and take strong performance enhancing drugs to get stronger. Plus, although I received some self satisfaction from achieving my goals, there was little other recognition or appreciation from anyone else, including my family. Hardly anyone in Australia had even heard of Powerlifting, there was no financial assistance or reward and it was becoming an expensive hobby with the interstate and overseas travelling required in order to compete with my Powerlifting peers.
I guess you could say I needed a new and more rewarding challenge.
Coming up next – Chapter 2: Introduction to Burwood Weightlifting Club & Head Coach Luke
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Journey of an Olympian eBook
A story about an Olympic Weightlifter’s journey of becoming an Olympian and Commonwealth Games medalist.