A woman who only began lifting weights in lockdown has qualified for an elite competition in Las Vegas she described as the “Olympics of bodybuilding”.
Sophie Gregory, from Eastern Green in Coventry, will be competing in the fitness category at Olympia in September, a professional competition which launched the acting career of former winner Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Gregory, a former GB youth gymnast, qualified after placing second in a show in Reno, Nevada, then first in the Toronto Pro competition in Canada.
She puts her success down to genetics, her gymnastics background and her “relentless work ethic”.
The mum-of-one, 34, started weight training in 2021, and began to compete the following year.
She said judges told her she needed to go away and “grow some legs and learn to pose”.
So she took two years off to train and “ate a lot, put on about 12kg”.
When her mum died last February, she decided to honour her memory by entering the fitness category of bodybuilding competitions.
