After stretching her body out, Olivia Perotti makes her way to the squat rack. The 29-year-old is hoping to better her record of squatting 165kg, which she accomplished at the gym last week.
She piles several weight discs on the barbell, takes a few deep breaths, and then begins squatting the mammoth weights.
“I get this huge adrenalin rush when I lift weights,” says Perotti. “You see these weights, and they look impossible to lift.
“A normal person wouldn’t be able to do it. And then when you get under the bar and actually lift it, you get this crazy rush. It’s indescribable.”
Perotti is working tirelessly at the Barbell Bullies gym in Sunninghill, Joburg.
Normally, Perotti loves being at Bullies. She considers it her second home but today she's battling to get through her workout.
She could have been on a plane to Canada to compete in the IPF Classic World Powerlifting Championships. Instead, she is forced to stay at home and put her dream on hold.
After winning the SA female Powerlifting Championships earlier this year, Perotti was invited to compete at powerlifting’s biggest competition in Calgary. But a lack of funding and sponsorship meant she was stuck at home.
Picture by Nhlanhla Phillips/ANA Pictures
The SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) does not fund powerlifting, and she needed R75000 but couldn’t raise the money in time.
“I’m heartbroken. I had worked so hard over the last year"
Perotti, who took up powerlifting just a year ago, and has enjoyed a dramatic rise in the sport, has battled to come to terms with the fact that Sascoc doesn’t sponsor powerlifting athletes.
“We, as a powerlifting association, are affiliated to Sascoc. They are the ones who sent me an invitation letter to compete at the world champs. So why aren’t we getting funded to represent our country?
“In the sports community in South Africa, we are lacking respect. The government needs to start giving back to developing sports like powerlifting.”
In the months building up to the event, Perotti not only won the powerlifting regional Gauteng Championships and the SA Championships, but broke two national records.
“We are good enough to compete against anyone in the world. Just look at the masters from South Africa that have gone to these world competitions. They went and all broke world records; they got top three podium finishes, but we need the support.”
Perotti, who is an attorney, worked tirelessly over the last few months in the hopes of competing at the same tournament as many of her idols.
Picture by Nhlanhla Phillips/ANA Pictures
“I barely have had a minute to breathe. In between my work as an attorney, I have had to spend around two to three hours in the gym daily. It’s been gruelling. I lift every single day, and then give my body a complete rest on a Sunday.
“When I was preparing for the Gauteng champs, I had to drop about 8kg, which was tough.
"I also ended up getting a spleen infection, and nearly ended up losing my spleen a week before the competition.”
Perotti is working hard to make sure she's at next year’s competition in Sweden.
“I have already started saving. I’m already pushing hard in the gym so that come next year I’m raring to go.”
Perotti’s coach Hank Dewet was disappointed that she wasn’t able to make it to Canada.
“It’s disappointing that a lot of the athletes, very good ones, couldn’t go and didn’t have the funds or sponsorship to go.
“In the future we would like to have people that could support us. If we have that support, it will be easier to catch up with the rest of the world.”
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