Zoe Newson
Zoe was a student at East Bergholt High School, she first 
became aware of Powerlifting by playing Badminton a second sport which is run at the same 
time as Suffolk Spartans. Demonstrations were also held by coach Neil Thomas at the school along with a lunch time club to get youngsters involved in the sport.
Suffering from dwarfism means that Zoe has trouble in gaining a wide grip of the adult, competition bar that is used. With the bar also weighing 20kg on its own this can mean that Zoe has to work tremendously hard on every set of her training; this is something she relishes and strives to work harder each and every week. Zoe has already found that her strength has improved and this is easy to see by .jpg)
the weights she is now lifting and her improvment over a few short months.
Zoe is keen on all sports especially football and competes in both the school sports events as well as the dwarf games. She wants to gain more strength and will be competing in Powerlifting in the near future but she is also keen to make her mark in the world of wrestling in the future. While she doesn't have a favourite star to emulate she is an avid fan of the WWE.
Competitive Action
Zoe entered her first IPC competition in January 2008 and performed well placing second with a lift of 47.5kg but by the British Finals in June she had increased this to 60kg. Her talent was obvious and she was invited to represent Great Britain in the summer both in France and America
. The year finished in style with Zoe being honoured by Wheelpower and receiving the best newcomer award.
In addition to the IPC events since then she has taken part in Dwarf Games placing first in the World Dwarf Games in 2009 and at the end of 2009 she was once again asked to represent Great Britain at the IWAS World Games in India finishing second in both the junior and senior competition she did manage to lift 80kg for the first time in competition and became only the third women in Britain to manage this.
In 2010 she attended both competitions in Great Britain placing first in both junior and senior events and picking up most improved female lifter trophy for a third time. She also managed to break the European Junior Record in this year before heading off to Kuala Lumpur in July to participate in the IPC Powerlifting World Championships (an event second only in prestige to a Paralympic Games and only held every four years). In this competition Zoe showed the progress she has made by winning the junior world title and managing a very impressive 4th place in the senior section of the competition. This was followed by a return to India to attend the Commonwealth Games later in
what had become a busy year. In this competition she placed 4th amongst all women as they were not separated in to the usual weight classes. Zoe managed to finish the year ranked 4th in the World at a senior level which if she can replicate next year will ensure she has automatic qualification to London 2012.
2011 has proved just as busy with a January trip to Cardiff and then venturing to Dubai for the IWAS World Junior Games in April where Zoe came first with a comfortable margin despite having something of an off patch in her training. She was back on track in time for the British Finals in June and Zoe was able to secure not only first place and best lifter but also break the European Junior Record she currently holds.