Contents

• Early life
• Life as a Paralympic athlete
• Retirement as a Paralympic athlete
• Achievements and awards

Anthony Peddle was born with a condition called Spina Bifida. He went on to compete in Para weightlifting and powerlifting events at 7 Paralympic Summer Games winning one gold and two bronze medals.

Of his last powerlifting appearance at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, he said:  

The achievement this time for me is that I'm actually here.

Early Life

Anthony was born in Northampton on 11th of May 1971 and currently lives in Matlock Derbyshire. At the age of 16 Anthony began taking an interest in powerlifting through his local disability sports club in Northampton.

Life as a Paralympic athlete

Anthony won the first competition he entered and in 1987 joined the British Disabled Weightlifting Association. He made his Paralympic debut at the Seoul 1998 Games.

Winning bronze medals at the Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games, he went on to win gold at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, setting a world record of 168kg which was unbeaten until 2007.

At the Athens 2004 Paralympics he was unsuccessful in defending his title because of a reoccurring shoulder injury. 

Anthony went on to represent Great Britain at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games. In 2012, after finishing in 8th position, at 41 years of age, he thanked the audience, saying:  

I'd obviously have liked that last lift but it wasn't to be at the end of the day ….. It was superb out there, absolutely unbelievable. Sydney I will always remember but this is absolutely superb and will be my last Games now. No Rio for me, that's it. It was an absolutely awesome way to bow out. ….. Thank you very much to the crowd for their support. It helped me no end. I was almost in tears in the warm-up room. It really chokes you and makes you to give that little bit extra. If you ever see me in a Lycra suit again, you have my permission to shoot me.

Anthony Peddle at the ParalympicsGB Training Camp prior to the London 2012 Games
Image ©Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

His sporting philosophy is:

To work hard and dedicate yourself. Believe in yourself and follow your dreams. Enjoy what you do!

Retirement as a Paralympic athlete

In 2013 Anthony donated his disabled powerlifting bench to Jade Farrington, who was hoping to qualify for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, making her local gym in Launceston the first in Cornwall to house a specially adapted bench.

Achievements and Awards

Paralympic Games

Anthony won bronze in the Men's -52 kg weightlifting at the Barcelona 1992 Paralympic Games, the last time the event was included in the programme.

Changing to the Men's -48 kg powerlifting event, he went on to win bronze at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympics and gold at the Sydney 2000 Games, where, although a lift of 165kg had already won him the gold medal, he went on to lift a world record 168kg in his fourth lift.

Other sporting events

At the 2011 IPC Powerlifting British Championships at Stoke Mandeville, competing in the Men’s -52kg, Anthony was named best lifter overall with 145kg, missing out on 150kg because of technical rule infringements. He had first won the best lifter trophy in this competition 21 years earlier.

References

• https://www.paralympic.org/news/sport-week-history-para-powerlifting#:~:text=Some%20form%20of%20lifting%20weights,the%20Tokyo%201964%20Paralympic%20Games.&text=By%20the%20time%20of%20the,for%20medals%20in%2010%20events.
• https://www.heart.co.uk/dunstable/news/local/contact-news-team/anthony-peddle-northampton/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Peddle
• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/aug/30/paralympics-2012-anthony-peddle-powerlifting
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spina_bifida
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ii_v3t9hpU
• https://www.paralympic.org/anthony-peddle
• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/aug/30/paralympics-2012-anthony-peddle-powerlifting
• https://www.paralympic.org/video/paralympic-sports-z-powerlifting#:~:text=The%20%27world%27s%20strongest%20Paralympian%2C%27,in%20Para%20powerlifting%20at%20296kg.
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/7366659.stm
• https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/109450/newson-breaks-european-record-to-give-london-2012-hopes-a-lift
• http://www.bude-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=2859&headline=Powerlifting%20first%20for%20Launceston&searchyear=2013
• https://studylib.net/doc/8378139/beijing-team-handbook---british-paralympic-association
• https://m.tagesspiegel.de/downloads/19734316/1/06-09-2012_paralympic-post_london.pdf
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/content/articles/2004/09/11/paralympic_feature.shtml