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Amanda Nemeth. Photo provided<\/p>\nBy Keiran Gorsky<\/p>\n
There was a hand-written note and a bright bouquet of roses on Amanda Nemeth\u2019s kitchen table when she returned from the 2026 Senior Canadian Weightlifting Championships south of Montreal. Nemeth was greeted with a heartfelt message from her husband Alec and a frozen treat from her son Maverick.<\/p>\n
\u201c(My son) really desperately wanted me to know that he left me two tubs of ice cream in the freezer,\u201d Nemeth laughed. \u201cGiven that I had to cut weight, I haven\u2019t tasted ice cream in a while, and so he wanted me to know that the two tubs of cookie dough ice cream were for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no easy task moulding your body into elite competitive shape as you near and surpass 40. For Nemeth, who took up weightlifting at age 39, there will always be some lingering question as to whether she can keep this up indefinitely.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m equal parts sunshine and rainbows and gratitude, but also I\u2019m like, I\u2019m 42, the deeper I get into my 40s, it is just biologically harder for me to keep getting better at this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Of course, building an athletic career later in life can offer some advantages. In Nemeth\u2019s case, she was very grateful to have a fully-formed support system.<\/p>\n
The competition in Nemeth never dissipated even as she drifted away from competitive environments. The mother of two grew up competing in gymnastics but spent most of her life as a coach.<\/p>\n
She started training in crossfit after the birth of her children and found that array of precise, technical movements not totally dissimilar from what she was used to. Nemeth took a job with Nepean\u2019s CANAM Strength and Conditioning, where she still leads development sessions for young athletes between the ages of 8 and 13.<\/p>\n
She found herself surrounded on all sides by people thirsting for the heat of competition. With a barbell coach right there, and the opportunity to train twice per week, Nemeth couldn\u2019t say no.<\/p>\n
Her daily training regimen doubled and tripled in length, but she adapted better and faster than she ever anticipated. Her coach at CANAM, Randy Williams, who she has continued working with online since he relocated to British Columbia, designed a training routine tailored to her busy schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might not look like what 20-year-old, childless people are doing, who have a whole lot more hours in the day to pursue this, but let\u2019s just go ahead and act like it\u2019s still possible,\u201d Nemeth described the challenge.<\/p>\n
Amanda Nemeth. Photo provided<\/p>\n
The competitor in Nemeth burned bright, but success was just as much in the head. She was not immune to errant thoughts as to how unlikely all of this was. Instead of blocking out less appealing narratives, Nemeth took a certain pleasure in rewriting them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThinking that something\u2019s not possible, it\u2019s like seeing it as this big fish that I\u2019m never going to catch,\u201d she explained. \u201cAnd then I catch the fish, and I\u2019m like, \u2018What fish are still there in the ocean?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams told her one day she was quite close to a qualifying score \u2013 as is often the case in weightlifting, where elite competition sometimes takes the form of a bit of a secret society, Nemeth had no clue what he meant. After some digging online, Nemeth eventually deduced she was close to qualifying for senior provincials \u2013 something that had never been on her radar.<\/p>\n
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Amanda Nemeth. Photo provided<\/p>\n
Qualify she did. She eventually transitioned from the master\u2019s category for competitors over 30 to the senior elite level reserved for the top athletes in the country. After a training session late in 2024, Nemeth and Williams looked at her lift total in some disbelief. She was 1 kg short of a qualifying score for nationals.<\/p>\n
Maybe nothing had to be impossible. Come what may, Nemeth decided, she was going to qualify for nationals in the next three years.<\/p>\n
The 2025 Ontario bronze medallist thought she had secured a spot at this year\u2019s Canadians, but that was thrown into jeopardy three weeks before the competition due to a rounding calculation misunderstanding. Weightlifting Canada hadn\u2019t published qualifying scores before many qualifying competitions were held, so provincial federations were left to do their own arithmetic based on international standards.<\/p>\n
When Weightlifting Canada released their own marginally higher numbers earlier this year, Nemeth was one of the unlucky few bumped out of a qualifying position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was kind of faced with this thing that I busted my butt to do, and you know, checked all the boxes, and I\u2019m super excited, and now I\u2019m being told that I may not be able to compete,\u201d Nemeth recalled.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/nemeth1.jpg\")
Amanda Nemeth. Photo provided<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Nemeth and others were re-entered into the competition after the Ontario Weightlifting Association advocated on their behalf. Reaching the new qualifying standard would have been a massive hurdle for Nemeth, who was recovering from a concussion when the new numbers were released.<\/p>\n
She had every reason to be apprehensive when she arrived in La Prairie, QC, where she had the lowest entry total in her weight class. As ever, Nemeth took the opportunity to rewrite the narrative before it threatened to overwhelm her.<\/p>\n
Weightlifters are not always a terribly extroverted bunch in the heat of competition, where everyone has taken great pains to construct some impenetrable headspace. Even so, Nemeth maintained, competitors still quietly have each other\u2019s backs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people weren\u2019t scary,\u201d Nemeth underlined. \u201cI mean, they were all just people.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/nemeth2.jpg\")
Amanda Nemeth. Photo provided<\/p>\n
Nemeth was able to settle into her own fortified headspace. She missed her opening 78 kg snatch but managed the lift on her second attempt. She followed it up with an 81 kg lift, breaking her own Ontario Masters snatch record.<\/p>\n
The subsequent clean-and-jerk didn\u2019t go quite as smoothly. On her final attempt at a 96 kg lift, Nemeth brought the barbell over her head, but was credited with a miss since her elbows weren\u2019t completely straight.<\/p>\n
Nemeth\u2019s first clean-and-jerk lift of 93 kg stood as her best, giving her a combined total of 174 kg. That was good for 13th overall out of 19 women\u2019s 69 kg competitors, while her snatch mark was ninth-best. Nemeth could hardly be happier with her performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no regrets,\u201d she underlined. \u201cI couldn\u2019t have done anything differently. I couldn\u2019t have prepared any better.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/nemeth6.jpg\")
Amanda Nemeth. Photo provided<\/p>\n
Back at home, Nemeth is endlessly grateful to have the support of her family. She offers a comforting message, but one that becomes too easy to forget as you get older \u2013 there\u2019s always time to try something new.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 35-year-old self would be so proud right now,\u201d Nemeth likes to say. \u201cIt\u2019s such a silly thing that we have to become adults and forget what whimsy is.\u201d<\/p>\n
National bronze & gold medals for Ottawa lifters<\/p>\n
CANAM product Kristen Pearn was Ottawa\u2019s top performer at the mid-May competition, winning a bronze medal in the women\u2019s 77 kg snatch. She failed to record a successful clean-and-jerk lift, however. Pearn is relocating to Stratford and is planning to represent Burlington Barbell Club at future events.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ottawa\u2019s Rory van Ulft, who has triple Nemeth\u2019s experience in weightlifting despite being a third of her age, captured the first official global title of her career at the IWF World Youth Championships in Colombia earlier this month, after previously topping the Canadian U21 championships with a total that was better than her weight category\u2019s winning mark at the senior nationals.<\/p>\n
Read More: 13-year-old weightlifter at last gets the world title\/record she\u2019s long been pressing for\n<\/p>\n
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