On her way to powerlifting greatness
The 17-year-old Gaia Mottalini is already making waves in the powerlifting world after just a few months of training.
Professional powerlifting is rough, tough, dirty and filled to the brim with muscly, grunting strong men and women. When you come across one of these powerhouses, you know you’re talking to one of the strongest people around.
In comes 17-year-old Krugersdorp High School (KHS) learner, Gaia Mottalini who, until eight months ago hadn’t considered going into competitive powerlifting. Besides being one of the top academic learners in her grade, she plays netball, water polo, swims and participates in athletics. That still wasn’t enough for her and she turned her attention to the Olympic sport of powerlifting.
“I had an opportunity to try it because I have a strong base. I’ve been working with kettlebells for a few years because my dad is a personal trainer. The coach where I train asked if I’d be interested in joining the team,” she explained. “I’ve deadlifted for a few years, but I’ve never squatted or benched. So, I was keen to do something new.”
Gaia stays in the school’s dormitory and organises with the physical education teachers to train during the week at the school’s fully equipped gym. Her coach gives her a training programme to follow each week, and she heads out to Fourways to train at a gym on weekends.
In February she participated at the Gauteng Championship where she placed first in the sub-junior category, and was asked also to lift in a higher-level group, the junior category, where she placed third.
On Friday, 23 April Gaia competed at the South African National Championship where she tied for first place and finally ended in second place after the judges’ ruling. “Because we tied, it came down to weight, and she weighed in only a few grams less than I did, so I got the silver medal,” explaining that she weighed about 67kg and competed in the 69kg category, for which she set two records.
During the competition she had three opportunities in each category to do her best lift, ending with a maximum weight of 105kg for her squats; 57,5kg for bench-pressing (which was just below her personal best of 60kg which she benched at the Gauteng competition); and 117,5kg for her deadlift.
“I made world-championship numbers to qualify, but I’m not sure yet if I made the team because normally they take the top athlete. We’re still waiting for invites, but right now I’m not sure if I’m going to go to ‘Worlds’ because it’s in Europe and I don’t have that much experience as I’ve only been training for eight months or so.”
She lastly explained that, “It’s really hard to manage everything. I’m always busy and it’s a constant rush. After school it’s straight to netball. On Tuesdays I go from netball straight to the gym to do my training session. It’s hard on your body. Today I couldn’t train later, so I got up at four this morning.
