Rebekah Tiler Can Weighlift Over 200kg - FYI, She's Only 15

This Teenager Can Weightlift Over 200kg

Meet Rebekah Tiler, Britain's strongest schoolgirl who can lift almost 20 stone.

The mighty teenager can heave a colossal 123kg over her head and has broken over 200 weightlifting records - most of them her own - and she's still only 15 years old.

And last month she became Britain's youngest ever winner of the British Senior Championships when she won gold in the 69kg class when she lifted a total 205kg.

The British weightlifting champion from Denham Yorkshire has been lifting since she was 12 years old and can out-lift competitors almost twice her age.

Rebekah, a former sprint runner, won gold in a record breaking performance at the European Youth Championships in Lithuania this year.

Rebekah said: "I started weightlifting when I was 12. I was a sprinter and as part of my training I was tested for strength. My trainer couldn't believe how strong I was and encouraged me to take up weight lifting. I started lifting around 40kg to practice technique and I went from there.

"I competed in and won my first weightlifting contest when I was 12, I even beat the boys. I was really chuffed and got a real buzz from competing that I fell in love with weightlifting and I've continued with it ever since. I've broken over 200 records, a lot of them my own but no-one has beat me yet."

Rebekah's mum Emma said Rebekah has shown a natural strength from a young age.

She said: "Even when she was a baby she was advanced for her age, she learnt to walk and pull herself up much quicker than other children her age.

"Her dad Chris always did weights and had weights around the house, so she'd always have a go at lifting his dumbells. But it wasn't until she started running that her trainer recognised her strength and encouraged her to take up weightlifting.

"I think the sprinting has stood her in good stead, she has a good physique and a lot of strength in her legs from sprinting. Weightlifting seems to come very naturally to Rebekah, she makes us very proud."

Rebekah trains in the gym for two hours everyday and eats a healthy diet of chicken, fruit and vegetables - picking her meat up from the Butchers on her way home from school.

She dreams of one day becoming an Olympic weightlifting champion but for now she has her sights set on winning gold at the Commonwealth games next month, where she will be competing against women up to twice her age.

But she said despite her hours spent in the gym, Rebekah insists she's like every other teenager her age and likes to go to the cinema, bowling and for pizza with her firends.

She is also studying for her GCSEs and said she is determined to have an education to fall back on and fits exam revision and school work around her training schedule.

She said: "I train everyday for two hours a day after school and then I go home and do some revision.

"I want to carry on studying so I have a back up plan but I'd really like to pursue weightlifting as a career.

"Everyone at school thinks it's really cool that I weightlift and they like to make use of me.

"If there's ever a table or chair that needs moving people always ask me and my friend's will ask me to hold their bags if they're too heavy.

"The boys at school are constantly challenging me to arm wrestles - but I always win."

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