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17
Nov 2024
Nidderdale's powerlifting heroine looks back - and forward - to the Paralympics
For more than two months now, ‘normal' life has felt weird for Lottie McGuinness. The healthcare assistant from Darley is our district’s only current Paralympian, and after experiencing the heady highs of international competition over the summer in Paris, came back down to earth with a bump a few days later.
She told the Stray Ferret:
It’s so strange post-Games. Even walking to the shops is weird. You go from a massive high back to normality – it's the weirdest feeling ever. It seems like ages ago now, not just a couple of months.
Lottie was one of Team GB’s Para Powerlifting squad, and the euphoria she felt on that day in early September was largely down to the huge support she and her teammates enjoyed. One of her teammates was roared on by more than 200 of his mates who had make the trip across the Channel, and Lottie wasn’t short of cheerleaders either. She said:
I’ve never seen support like it. When I walked out onto the platform and saw all my family and friends watching, it was my ‘I’ve made it’ moment. It was amazing – the best feeling in the world. I know how Taylor Swift feels now!
Lottie produced a string of personal bests before the Paralympics
The Paralympics attracted more attention globally than they ever have before; in the UK, 18.5 million had tuned in to Channel 4’s coverage before the final weekend – easily capping the previous record from Tokyo 2020.
Lottie attributes that success in part to social media, and is an avid poster. She said:
It just spreads the word – it also gives me a chance to share my story and gives exposure to my sport.
You get the comments, but I know I’m benching more than them, so I don’t care!
If you talk to anyone in the Paralympic village, they’ll have an amazing story. You meet so many people who have conquered the impossible – people typing with their feet, and people with no arms or legs putting their hair up.
Team GB all got together for a photo before the closing ceremony and I remember thinking, ‘This is just an incredible group of people’.
It’s totally inspiring, and Paris really shone a spotlight on us all.
Lottie, who has just turned 23, went to Highfield Prep School, Harrogate Ladies’ College and St Aidan’s Sixth Form before graduating last year with a BSc in Sports and Exercise Science.
Inspired by five-times Paralympic gold medal winner Ellie Simmonds, she spent much of her youth in the pool, but was spotted by the British powerlifting coaches when she visited the 2019 National Dwarf Games. At their suggestion, she tried the sport out at Loughborough University, and enrolled in the National Talent Pathway.
She proved to be a natural, and after just two years of training, she made her international debut at the 2021 World Junior Championships, where she claimed a silver medal, before collecting a bronze at the Manchester Powerlifting World Cup.
She earned her place on Team GB’s Paralympic squad with a strong performance this June in Tblisi, Georgia, but was not expected to win a medal at the Paris Paralympics.
Lottie heading out to compete
In the event, she only narrowly missed out on one, coming closer to a podium finish at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena than she’d ever thought possible.
Her coaches had reckoned that the bronze medal would be claimed by someone lifting around 125kg – far heavier than Lottie’s pre-Games personal best of 104kg. But one of the top performers, Ukraine’s Mariana Shevchuk, dropped out, and some of the others were off form. Only one contender, Thailand's Kamolpen Kraratpet, stood in her way.
Lottie said:
I knew it was between me and the Thai girl – it all came down to her final lift. It was possible. After all, [fellow Paralympic powerlifter] Micky Yule qualified in eighth place, but ended up getting bronze.
In the end, though, Kraratpet, who was trailing Lottie by 2kg going into the final lift, hefted 108kg – 3kg more than Lottie, who was pushed into fourth place.
She said:
It was disappointing, but I hadn’t expected it to be so close. I’ve actually got a clip of my reaction when the result came through. I had thought it would be good to get a shot of me finding out I’d won, but it didn’t turn out that way. But it doesn’t matter.
Lottie as she checked the result of her failed last attempt
Her philosophical response is due to the fact that she hadn’t been banking on collecting a medal anyway. She’s comparatively new to the sport, having lifted her first weights in 2019, and had felt no pressure to make it onto the podium. The next Paralympics though, in Los Angeles in 2028, will be a different story.
She said:
I need to medal in LA, and I’m already in training for that. The next four years are pretty much mapped out. I want to do 110kg by March, or early summer, at least.
My next competition will be the World Championships in October 2025 in Cairo, and 115kg would be nice. The plan is to be at 118kg within 18 months.
Back down to earth, in Harrogate
In the meantime, she’s back at work, taking blood samples at Nidderdale Group Practice, which she calls her “little escape”, and she’s training hard – she's been known to train on Christmas Day.
She said:
I just want to keep on doing what I’m doing, and become the best at it. To win a medal at the next Paralympics would just be incredible.
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