Aeryn-Ejjina Atkinson has beaten adults in a national strongwoman contest by lifting three times her weight.
Atkinson got into lifting after watching her father do the sport, and she built a Lego barbell to convince her parents to let her hit the gym.
Age
She is 10 years old.
National Strongwoman Contest
The Olympic hopeful trains twice a day and scored a place at a national competition in Gloucester, performing a series of different lifts and exercises.
She won first place in the silver dollar deadlift by being the lightest person to heave three times their body weight – 96 kilos in her case.
The 4ft 6 child also did a 22.5kg log press – lifting weights off her shoulders straight above her head – achieving a new personal best.
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Aeryn-Ejjina from Telford, Shropshire, said: ‘I feel proud and I’m excited about my next competition.
Weightlifting
At the competition – her first-ever – she heaved a 96-kilo barbell off the floor, using a semi-squatting motion similar to a deadlift, beating all other six contestants because of her weight.
The challenge is called the silver dollar lift because it used to be undertaken with two buckets of silver dollar coins on the ends of a metal bar.
She also carried a 65kg barbell across the back of her shoulders, lugging it a total of 15 metres in 32 seconds, coming fifth in an event called the yolk walk.
Statement
‘I dream of being in the Olympics, but I didn’t think I’d be doing this at age 10. I wasn’t expecting to get into strong woman, but once I saw it, I knew it was my thing.’
She built herself a barbell out of Lego, aged seven, when her father, Craig, 40, and admin-worker mother, Melody, 41, were hesitant to let her start lifting weights.
Inspired by her father’s thrice-weekly workout and watching the sport on TV, she trained every day in a bid to be more like her hero Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Eventually, her parents gave in and found her a proper instructor.
Now she does at least two hours of training a day, starting at 5 am while her parents and brother Jovan, 11, are asleep, with a second session after her homework is done.
She said: ‘The Rock gets up at five, so I thought I’d try it. I started doing it, and then it’s just a habit that I’ve got into.
‘I enjoy it, but sometimes I get exhausted, then I normally tell myself “, you did this yesterday so that you can do it again.” And I can. I’ll never give it up.’
Aeryn-Ejjina was invited to participate as a guest lifter in the competition by fitness company Oak Strength on August 22.
