From hospital ward to world weightlifting championships

Published On Fri 18 Sep 2015 by Grant Hill

Less than a year after taking up competitive weightlifting Helen Weavers, a strength and conditioning coach at the University of Dundee’s Institute of Sport and Exercise, has won a silver medal at the World Masters Weightlifting Championships in Finland.

The World Championship silver medal, which she won with a personal best, now sits alongside a European Masters silver, a British Masters gold and a Scottish Masters gold.

Her rise to the top of her sport in such a short time is impressive enough but making it all the more remarkable is that only last year Helen was hospitalised with a devastating bout of illness which resulted in pleurisy, pneumonia and a collapsed lung.

“I am absolutely delighted with my silver medal and look forward to a bit of time out before the preparations for the next competition begin,” said Helen. “Competing at the World Championships was a nervy experience but I was so pleased with my performance. I got a personal best, which is all I could ask for.

“The support from family and friends has been totally overwhelming. Without my knowledge, some of my friends set up a crowdfunding page and raised £1350 for my trip to Finland, which was an incredibly lovely thing for them to do. I also got sponsorship from the Dundee Sportsman’s Dinner and Discover Beauty in Dundee, and I have to thank everyone who helped make it possible for me to compete in the World Championships.

“What has been particularly nice has been the comments from those who have daughters and have said it’s inspiring for them to see what I have achieved and that it’s a good thing to be strong and to try a sport that’s a bit different. That’s really nice to hear.”

Helen, who is also a sports and exercise physiologist at ISE, admits there were days during her illness when she wondered if she would ever be able to train again and certainly could not have foreseen such a successful introduction to a sport she was a virtual stranger to.

“I was off work for three months,” she explained. “I went back to the gym after six months and I cried with frustration because I was so weak and my lungs hurt.

“I had originally learnt the lifts as a part of my coaching, as many sports use these lifts in training to develop strength and power. I discovered I really enjoyed learning the lifts and the training so I carried on with it but then I got pneumonia and I had to start all over again.

“The first time I went back to the gym after being ill I decided to wear a heart rate monitor and although all I did was to pick up a broomstick handle and do a few squats my heart rate went through the roof. I had to be very careful but, to be honest, my body stopped me from pushing too hard. I just had to be patient.”

After six months of slowly regaining her fitness and a year after she had first become ill Helen began training “properly” again and linked up with a weightlifting coach in Glasgow.

She made rapid progress and by February had entered her first competition and won gold at the Scottish Masters Championships, setting a new Scottish record for her age and weight category. The following month she took gold at the British Masters and then in June won silver at the Europeans.

At the World Championships in Finland she set a new personal best with a combined total in the snatch and clean and jerk events of 121kg (more than 19 stone.
Helen is so convinced of the benefits of strength training that she has just started PhD studies looking at using it as a means to help children become more physically active.

“There is often a big emphasis on cardiovascular exercise in children but that might not suit everyone in the first instance, when we are aiming to increase physical activity levels. Strength training could be a way of developing children to be more coordinated, confident and generally more physically competent which ultimately should have a positive impact on physical activity levels.”

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277