2018 NPAA Magazine 2018 NPAA Magazine - This is Our Sport | Page 63

BC 2017
Angel Magnussen
HEART AWARD Winner
Angel Magnussen has always been a fighter and for the
past year and a half, the 21-year-old has been in the gym
every single day, working tirelessly to fulfil her dream of
competing in a bodybuilding competition.
Angel has spent much of her young life giving to others,
creating her own charity Hugginz by Angel, where she
makes blankets for sick children around the world. She
has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for children’s
charities and was even crowned Canada’s nicest person
in a Roots Canada competition.
But Angel, who has Down Syndrome, autism, and an anxiety
disorder, is now doing something for herself. “She’s lost 45
pounds and she’s just incredible, this is the healthiest she’s
ever been,” said Angel’s mother Cheryl Magnussen.
Angel’s doctors and specialists say they have never
seen such a dramatic transformation? Angel hasn’t been
hospitalized once since she started her fitness and eating
program. Angel took the stage in her bikini, hitting all
her poses in front of a packed crowd at the NPAA 2017
competition in Vancouver. “She’s worked so hard, so
incredibly incredibly hard for this goal, to be able to step on
that stage and be like every other athlete out there,” said
Magnussen.
But in a life filled with challenges, this experience was no
exception. Angel, who struggles with balance, donned high
heels like her fellow competitors and although she had
practiced walking in them four hours a day, she faltered.
For many, that would be the end, but not Angel. With the
help of a staff member and the support of the entire crowd
she walked right back to centre stage, put on her best smile,
and proudly finished off exactly what she went there to do.
“If that were me I would have maybe cried, ran off stage,
would have been embarrassed, and she just got right back,
and smiled, and finished her posing,” said her trainer Nomi
Samson.
Her fellow competitors, so inspired they broke their posed
positions to hold Angel’s hands. Angel Magnusson won
the Heart award that day. She is already back at the gym
working to build even more muscle so she can compete in
an even bigger competition next year.
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