Many people think that 'powerlifting' is a sport associated with young people, however, that is until they meet Miguelina Padrón, a 77-year-old grandmother from Tenerife who has broken records as Spanish champion and European runner-up in less than 2 years of training.
Talking to Diario de Avisos, Miguelina explained that she was born on December 11th, 1946 in La Gomera, but has been living in La Laguna in Tenerife, for more than 50 years, where she has raised her 4 children. What she never imagined though, was that one of her ten grandchildren would be responsible for introducing her to the world of weightlifting.
In June 2022, her grandson Marcos encouraged her to try the sport, saying “come on grandma,” to which Miguelina always ended up responding: “How am I going to do that, I’ll break a bone.”
However, Marcos persisted and Miguelina agreed, so after consulting a physiotherapist, her journey began.
A broom handle was her first bar until she jumped to a 7 kilo bar, an insignificant weight compared to the 20 kilo bar that she uses today. Miguelina’s records stand at the weight of 47.5 kilos for the squat, 33 kilos in the bench press and 57.5 kilos in the deadlift, which she achieved in her last competition, the European Masters Classic 2024, held in February in Torremolinos in Malaga.
Three-time Spanish champion in the Master 4 category, for people over 70 years old, and European runner-up, Miguelina has participated in five competitions during the last two years since she started training. Despite not having done any other sport when she was younger, she assures that she has always worked “like a donkey,” and for 8 years she owned a bar where she had to “lift very heavy pots and pans.”
Before starting powerlifting, Miguelina suffered some mishaps. After several falls, she underwent knee surgery, fractured her wrist, and injured her chin. Since she started training, she says that she has only fallen over once and has not suffered any injuries, “thanks to weightlifting, my bones have strengthened.”
In her first competitions, she needed help to get up from the bench, and now she can get up on her own, and says “just with that you can see the progress.”
What an inspiration, good luck Miguelina and long may it continue.
