Miela and Andre Smit have schoolwork to finish, honours blazers to wear, world bench-press records to their names — and parents with a hefty grocery bill.
Just a year after taking up powerlifting, the KuGompo City (formerly East London) siblings lifted their way into the record books at last month’s African Congress Powerlifting Championship in Durban. Miela, 18, benched 62.5kg, while Andre, 14, lifted 122.5kg — about the weight of an industrial washing machine or upright piano.
“I had no idea I could lift that much until the day of the competition. I was the previous world record holder with 117kg, but that day I managed to break it,” Andre said.
Andre competed in the Teen 1 (13-15 years) over-140kg category, taking gold alongside his new world record.
At 1.83m tall and weighing 165kg, Andre tips the scales beyond the range of a fully grown Springbok rugby forward: he’s 40kg heavier than lock Cobus Wiese, although slightly shorter.
Competing in the Teen 3 (18-19 years), 110kg AWPC category, Miela also set national records with a 125kg squat and a 145kg deadlift, and was crowned overall best teen lifter.
Both have since been awarded South African colours for international representation and earned themselves a particularly coveted school wardrobe upgrade.
The siblings, who grew up in an Afrikaans-speaking household and attended an Afrikaans-medium primary school, opted to attend Stirling High, the local English school. The big attraction was the school’s honours system, which allows pupils who earn national colours in any discipline to wear a white honours blazer.
“Miela was insistent. I told her it was going to be very difficult to suddenly study history, geography and maths in English, but she wanted to and within the first term had made it into the top 10 in academics. Then Andre decided to follow, and he’s doing really well too,” said their father, Bernard.
Keeping the two champions fuelled is a challenge. Their high-protein diet means mom Marijke does serious heavy lifting of her own when it comes to grocery shopping.
“For most families, you can buy a kilogram of chicken fillets and that would be enough for everyone. But Andre can eat that much by himself in one meal. I don’t keep track of costs, but I can say that Checkers Sixty/60 is my best friend. Every day, sometimes twice,” she said.
The siblings’ interest in powerlifting began with conversations at the gym. Already regular gym-goers, they heard others talking about their powerlifting goals, achievements and competitions. They signed up with coach Neo Pheko and haven’t looked back.
“Andre is big. He’s only 14, but he shot past me when he was 12. Now he’s a giant brick house that’s wide from top to bottom,” Bernard said.
Miela, who stands 1.65m tall, brought a different kind of sporting strength to the competition.
“Miela used to be a passionate open-water swimmer, so her shoulders are well built and strong,” said Marijke.
But nothing quite prepared the family for the moments that saw world records smashed.
“You cannot imagine what it is like to see your child do their best and break the record. You run to the front to watch them, everyone is cheering and it’s like your heart is bursting, and the tears just roll,” said Marijke.
For all the medals, trophies and records, the Smit household remains reassuringly ordinary. The siblings do powerlifting training three times a week and cardio with their mother every second weekend.
For both Miela and Andre, becoming the best in the world is just the start of their journeys.
“Of course we want to do more and push ourselves harder. And who wouldn’t want to compete overseas? We’re definitely not planning to stop,” said Miela.
Miela’s biggest challenge now, however, is her matric finals and working for the marks she needs to study medical technology and become a clinical perfusionist — a specialist who operates the machine that temporarily takes over the work of a patient’s heart and lungs during surgery.
Andre’s ambitions are more typical of a teenage boy.
“My boy is just like any other kid. He loves gaming, he plays rugby and is into sport,” said Bernard.
