Piece of the Platform – Volume 9
Welcome to piece of the platform. As Athletes ourselves and as Technical Officials, we’re really lucky that we get to spend time with, know, work or train alongside some really fantastic people from within the weightlifting community. We’re even luckier still that some of those people have agreed to a take part in our mini interviews, that we’ve coined ‘Piece of the Platform’.
We’ve reached out to Coaches, Technical Officials, BWL staff, Athletes and volunteers, and we’ve asked them all some variation of the same 4 questions. The answers we’ve had back have been inspiring, funny, helpful and thought provoking – so we’ve collated them here, as an addendum to the learning resources, to pool that collective knowledge and advice in the hope that you’ll enjoy reading them just as much as we did.
Emily Muskett – Olympian, CWG, European & World Medalist
Want to know more about Emily?
@emilygbw
@lift_me_up_wl
What’s your favourite thing about weightlifting ?
The feeling you get when you absolutely nail a lift in a high-pressure situation.
What one piece of advice would you give to athletes about competition?
To take their time. Get on the platform with at least 60 seconds on the clock, and just take some deep breaths. You don’t want to rush your lifts!”
What do you think BWL and the Technical Officials do well, and what could we do better?
I think there’s a great relationship between the athletes and TO’s, and a huge amount of respect there. In terms of improvements I’d say we just need to get a greater number of TO’s qualified and available. We don’t want to always rely on the same people.
If you could ask your favourite lifter one question, who are they and what would that be?
Lydia Valentine
Obviously all my favourite lifters are British. But outside of the UK I’d like to ask Lydia Valentin how she has kept going for so many years! She’s an incredible lifter and she’s always made weightlifting more feminine which I admire.