{ Weightlifting Fairy ✨ }

Currently waiting for my flight back to Singapore. Just a 13 hour flight to look forward to…. wif a 4 hour layover in between… 🫩

Anyways, my competition was a mixed bag. For one thing it was a disappointing performance 👎. But on the other hand, I won my first ever international medal 👍. Not rlly sure how to feel abt dat… 🤔

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A big perk of competing overseas is the opportunity to see the many lifters from all over the world doing wat they do best.

There is ofc the top 1% – the Chinese, Thais, North Koreans, Uzbeks, etc. Usually they only exist on YouTube, so seeing them irl is a pretty amusing.

I am ofc not worthy, and probs will never be reaching their level. But das ok becos there’s still the other 99% to fit in wif. Most of them aren’t quite as strong, and are therefore less publicized with media coverage. Admittedly, dat makes it a lil more interesting to see what those guys are up to.

Dis is great cos ur able to witness a whole lot of different personalities dat go wif the athletes. It’s amusing to see how contrasting some of them can be, when juxtaposed wif the incredible feats of strength they display.

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Personally, my fav was dis one dude I was keeping an eye on 👀 in the backroom. A lifter from the little island of Tuvalu 🇹🇻✨

To put it bluntly, dis man radiates sassy zesty 💅 energy from the get-go. He’s waltzing into the warm up area wif his hand bag, in clothes dat shows off his curves, and his face very meticulously groomed. Dis is on top of the fact dat he oready has a naturally androgynous appearance.

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Then he starts actly warming up by lifting the barbell overhead. Then adding 20kg… then another 20kg… then 10kg… then another 10kg…. and is now lifting 140kg over his delicate face.

At dat point he’s turned into a completely different animal. He’s in his zone, u noe? Mean and shouting. All pumped up and aggressive, a complete contrast wif how he started off. Having switched on, he goes out and powers thru a 145kg clean and jerk.

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As someone who, ngl, has abit of a conflicting personality to almost everyone in my team, dat man sorta serves as inspiration to me.

Sometimes it’s hard to fit in wif the rest. I’ve never rlly been a tough guy, or an alpha male, or anything along those lines. So part of me always felt dat I was a lil too soft or sensitive for dis bat-shit insane sport.

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But muscles from Tuvalu here made me realise dat it’s possible for weightlifters to succeed, w/o being dat stereotypical macho dude u imagine them to be. In fact, u can be hella far away from being like such.

Becos once the bars are lifted and training sessions / competitions conclude, u can go back to being who u rlly are. Sorta like acting… which makes sense. Athletes are here to entertain, at the end of the day 🤷

Which is great honestly. Adds a lot more depth to the sport than wat we see on the surface ☺️

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29.04.2026