Muscle Fitness Muscle & Fitness UK - April 2018 | Page 120

S P O RT S
PERFORMANCE
MARCHING
ON TOGETHER
S
PECTATORS, PUNDITS
and journalists could argue
forever and a day about who kicks a
ball in the most attractive way, who
swings a cricket bat with the most
flare or who carries a rugby ball
with the most vigour and they will
never see eye to eye because it is all
so subjective. But there is one sport
where there are no grey areas and
no room for debate.
There is unquestionable strength
and a certain romance associated with
seeing who can lift the most amount of
weight off the floor and above their
heads, and M&F’s Mark Laws got
plenty of both when he spoke to Sarah
Davies and Jack Oliver, the
weightlifting couple from Leeds who
both aim to bring back medals from
the 2018 Commonwealth Games in
Australia.
Despite being a minority sport
weightlifting’s popularity has grown
exponentially in recent years. The
reason for this meteoric rise according
to Sarah, especially for women, is
“CrossFit and Instagram”. Sarah
explains that when she first competed
in the sport it was possible to go to a
national event and be guaranteed a
medal “because there were only three
competitors in each weight class”.
118
MUSCLE & FITNESS / APRIL 2018
Weightlifting couple Sarah Davies and
Jack Oliver share their journey’s from
Leeds to Australia as they both go in
search of Commonwealth Games glory.
///
BY MARK L AWS /// PHOTOGR APHS BY BRITISH WEIGHTLIF TING