Rebekah Tiler is without doubt one of the news stories to watch in Olympic Weightlifting. With only a few years lifting experience Rebekah is rapidly becoming one of the best female lifters for her age, both in terms of her actual lifts as well as her technique.

2012 has been a fantastic year for records and not only at the Olympic Games in London this summer (33 Olympic Records, 11 World Records and 1 Junior World Record were broken) but the list for Rebekah below reads more like the achievements of a small nation rather than a teenage girl.

Lifting in January at her (then) home club Perform Centre run by Dave Bell, the strength and conditioning coach who encouraged her to take up Olympic Weightlifting, she started on her journey of breaking records this year. In this competition lifting in the Under 14, 58Kg class she finished with a Snatch of 42kg - breaking the previous record by 9Kgs. Her Clean and Jerk of 71Kg that day beat the previous record of 45.5Kg by a massive 25.5Kg!
In March of this year Rebekah competed in the British Under 13 Contest in Oldbury still competing at U14 in the 58Kg class she improved greatly on her Snatch (50Kg) as well as on her Clean and Jerk (72Kg) finishing with a new record total of 122Kg. Another month, another set of records (why not?). In April 2012 Rebekah competed in the British U20s/U23s in Lilleshall this time in the 63Kg class. Her Snatch with firstly 52Kg and then 55Kg were new NWL records (and around 22kg over the existing). Only (!) Jerking 70Kg that day she still set a new record total of 125Kg for the U14 63kg class.
NWL ran the second of the Schools Development Cup contests in Wakefield in May and another great platform appearance by Rebekah. Back to competing in the U14, 58Kg class this time she increased her record Snatch to 58Kg and increasing her Clean & Jerk by 6kg to 78Kg. Her total of 136Kg that day was also a superb achievement.
Throughout the summer months Rebekah must have been glued to the TV watching the Olympic Games as only one record in June with a Snatch of 56Kg (U14 63Kg class) at the British Youth Contest in Holyhead. The Olympic Games had certainly inspired Rebekah as in September of this year she achieved yet another consistent performance as well as this time breaking the British Records for the 63Kg class Under 14 and Under 15 age groups with a total of 153Kg (Snatch 65kg and Jerk 88Kg).
More recently Rebekah has surpassed herself again. In the British Under 18 Contest hosted by Andy Sutor at the famous Empire Club in Bristol, Rebekah on this occasion did a fantastic total of 165Kg (Snatch 72kg and Clean & Jerk of 93Kg). Click the photo for a video of the record Clean and Jerk. One thing not mentioned above is the fact that most of the Regional records that Rebekah has broken this year are not only for her own age group, but range from U14 up to NWL Senior records too. Certainly this kind of achievement has not been seen for many years in our region and is akin to Zoe Smith's fantastic performances.
Now coached by Eddie Halstead, himself twice British Senior Champion and 5 times English Champion Rebekah has recently stopped competing at her much-loved sprinting to concentrate on Olympic Weightlifting. It would seem then that Rebekah is destined for greater things to come and with the support of her parents and the British Weight Lifting Performance Team Rebekah should excel.
With the focus from the Olympic Games on women's role and achievements in sport Rebekah could also been seen as a fantastic role model for many female athletes around her age. With the drive from Sport England to enhance the participation of 14-24 year-olds within our sport, Rebekah is also a great ambassador not only with her performances but with her personality and attitude too. Early this year when I asked her what she ultimately wanted in weightlifting before I had finished the question Rebekah enthusiastically replied "Gold at the Olympic Games!". Let's hope that we can guide Rebekah and others like her to that dream.