It’s never too late to start weightlifting.

Since 1987 women in our sport have been allowed to take part in world championships and in 2000 women’s weightlifting was included in the Olympic program for the first time.

These Olympic Games were attended by 85 women (161 men). For the 2016 Games in Rio, the number of women participating increased by 20 athletes, while the number of men even decreased.

For just over thirty years, women’s weightlifting has been internationally recognized.

Why Do A LOT OF girls still don’t dare LIFTING WEIGHTS?

The first point, of course, is the fear of destroying their shape – which is bullshit. Far too often we emulate supposed ideals of beauty, which in reality are only given to us by the mainstream. A further thought of many women is that they are too old for weightlifting – also bullshit, in my opinion.

I found my way into weightlifting at the age of 9. To have started so young is certainly no disadvantage. I realized quite early on that I wanted to practice the sport at a high level and set myself the goal of participating in international competitions.

Nevertheless, I am convinced that girls and women, regardless of their age, can dare to start lifting weights and achieve a lot nationally as well as internationally.

The question I was asked on Instagram whether it would be worthwhile to start weightlifting at 18 or 19 and take part in competitions is justified but easy to answer – it’s worth it!

If, for example, you start weightlifting now (at the end of 2019) and register with a weightlifting club, get a start book for competitions, train diligently and motivated under the supervision of a coach, you can manage to take part in the German Championship at the end of 2020. This is, of course, an ambitious plan, but it has already been done by some.

EXAMPLES OF NATIONAL FEMALE ATHLETES

Thus the Olympic dream can be realized even at the age of just over 30. PATRICIA RIEGER  sets a good example here. The side entrant, who has been a member of the BVDG’s perspective squad since 2019, did not start as a child but started her weightlifting career parallel to basketball at the end of 2013. The 26-year-old beginner is currently working hard on her dream to get a ticket to the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo.

SANDRA HACKER from Cologne is also one of the better-known female weightlifters in Germany today. Her athlete’s story is not so atypical for weightlifting. She comes from the CrossFit sector. In March 2018, the 27-year-old started to work more specifically with the bar besides CrossFit. In the same year, she qualified for the German Championship in Roding and took home the bronze medal in the -58 kg weight class. In addition to her passion for weightlifting, she also has a 40-hour  job as a team leader. Her big goal is to compete against international competitors one day. The pleasant and funny athlete started in her late twenties and still has a lot of plans for her weightlifting career.

EXAMPLES OF INTERNATIONAL FEMALE ATHLETES

LYDIA VALENTIN is one of the best-known female weightlifters in the world. The Spanish played with the iron from the age of eleven. Nevertheless, the strong blonde did not achieve her greatest success, the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games, until she was 27 years old. The strongest performance in her entire career she even achieved at the age of 29 at the European Championship 2014.

If one compares Lydia’s career with that of the American MATTIE ROGERS, the differences are obvious. She started weightlifting at the age of 17, only 6 years later she won her first medal at World Championships in Anaheim 2017.

So it is not mandatory to start with the sport as a child or teenager. If you are 9, 11, 17, 20, 30, 40 or 50 and you want to lift weights then just do it!

HAVE FUN PLAYING AROUND WITH WEIGHTS AND ALWAYS REMEMBER MY WORDS – JUST DO IT!