The strongest nine-year-old in the world: How a Canadian girl is breaking records and misconceptions about weightlifting and kids

She may be the shortest participant, but there's no missing Aurora (Rory) van Ulft at a weightlifting competition. That's what happens when you're nine years old (10 on Sunday), carry a stuffed reindeer called Lucy Moosey - and set an astonishing world record.

Rory became the youngest person to lift double their body weight in Olympic-style weightlifting during the Variety Village Open in Toronto two weeks ago. Standing four-foot-four and weighing 32.8 kilograms, the Ottawa preteen lifted 66 kilograms in the clean and jerk, bringing the barbell to her shoulders before thrusting it overhead.

American Olympian Clarence Cummings had been the youngest to lift double their weight, doing it a decade ago when he was 11 years old. Spencer Moorman, Rory's coach and a two-time U.S. champion, has done it once in a lengthy career.

To see her do it within four years of lifting says a lot about the hours and effort that she's put in," Moorman says. That's one of the major things that separates Rory from almost every other child lifter: She puts in the effort, she puts in the hours."

There are many outdated beliefs about the dangers weightlifting poses to children. So, despite the many accolades and overwhelmingly positive comments on her Instagram page, there is still criticism about Rory lifting at such a young age.

Is it safe for children?

When you say that your five-year-old daughter is about to start Olympic weightlifting, everybody says: Goodness, you're crazy. Why are you doing this? This isn't safe. She shouldn't be doing this,'" says Rory's mom, Lindsay Noad. One of the things we've really focused on, at least in our sort of immediate circle, is education. We still have the detractors, particularly on social media. We always will."

This has little effect on Rory, who doesn't have a phone or much to do with her online presence. Her dad, Cavan van Ulft, manages that.

Noad and van Ulft didn't set out to create a weightlifting prodigy. They just wanted to keep their daughter safe in the sport she loves most: gymnastics.

Both parents are scientists, so when Rory was five and invited to join a competitive gymnastics team they started researching. Van Ulft was terrified by the statistics" he found on injuries and health concerns in gymnastics and landed on weightlifting as a route to reduce those dangers.

That's why we started, and then it just turned out that Rory was good at it," he says.

That puts Rory in a small but seemingly growing group of Canadian youngsters who are starting weightlifting earlier and achieving impressive results because of it.

That trend has been entirely driven by a few club coaches and some provincial associations. Weightlifting Canada, the sport's national body, has long had a philosophical barrier" to developing youth competitors (13 to 17), let alone juveniles under 13. It wasn't because of safety concerns, explains Weightlifting Canada president Craig Walker, but a belief that Canadian youth would get discouraged if they competed internationally against countries with established, well-funded programs.

Lifting is about technique

Becoming a successful weightlifter isn't about bulging muscles but mastering the technique of the two lifts - the snatch, and the clean and jerk - and that takes time. Top coaches have long argued that kids in Canada need to start learning the fundamentals much younger, and provincial bodies such as the Ontario Weightlifting Association have started to include competition categories for younger ages.

Walker says there is now a broad recognition across more of the leadership at the provincial and national level that for us to sustain or grow the sport, we need to get people into the sport at a younger age where they're getting more technical development at an earlier age, so that they are international class as seniors."

Of the five Canadian weightlifters who competed at the Tokyo Olympics, three started as children from ages six to 10. Gold medallist Maude Charron wanted to start when she was seven, but her parents steered her to other sports. She found weightlifting through CrossFit at 20.

Expanding youth participation is also vital for a sport looking to escape its doping reputation and maintain a place on the Olympic program.

Weightlifting Canada, a volunteer-run organization, doesn't track juveniles but now counts close to 400 youth competitors aged 13 to 17, a massive increase over the handful" who used to compete, Walker says. That growth and change in philosophy has led the national body to put in place safe-sport policies for youth lifters, and Canada will hold its first youth national championships this summer.

Young lifters competing in U.S.

But that focus has not trickled down to athletes under 13. If we see that there's a demand from a fairly high number of juvenile athletes who have shown some proficiency in competition, there's nothing to stop us from looking at hosting an online juvenile nationals," Walker says.

For now, Canada's youngest lifters are crossing the border to compete in the American championships run by USA Weightlifting. It includes categories down to 11 and under, which Rory has won three times. Other Canadians who have won there include Ivy-Marie Buzinhani Brustello, and Emily and Brayan Ibanez-Guerrero.

They're very, very proficient, so we're not really that concerned about the weight being too much," Walker says of the young lifters. The impact on the body from doing those lifts when it's done well is a lot less than what you're experiencing in gymnastics or hockey or football."

Dr. Sasha Carsen, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, says the long-standing negative bias to weight training for children and claims that it stunts growth or damages growth plates are not backed by science or injury studies. If those risks were real, they'd be cause for concern in other sports that involve high velocity and complex movements such as gymnastics, he says, adding the risks in any sport can be mitigated by good technique, good coaching and appropriate progression.

A little bean of a person'

Moorman remembers Rory when she was just a little bean of a person" walking into his gym in Ottawa. But he was impressed when she quickly picked up a jumping exercise that demanded muscle co-ordination and timing. There's more than just a kid here," he says. She's able to take in information, process it and execute."

Execution was what she had in mind at the Variety Village competition. Rory had lifted double her body weight in training and wanted to do it in competition before her 10th birthday. Her first three lifts were in the snatch, where she brings the weight overhead in one movement. She was succesful at 44, 46 and 47 kilograms.

But she missed her opening weight, 63 kilograms, in the clean and jerk. She made it on her second attempt, leaving just one more lift. The weight that flashed up on the board was 64 kilograms, not enough for Rory to reach her goal.

Her father's eyes opened wide. He had been pacing nervously before all of her lifts. Her mother, sitting in the front row, held her breath.

Rory asked her coach to put the weight to 66. I want it," she said.

If we're going to take this (weight up)," Moorman replied, it's not just because you want it but because you are confident that you can do it."

She nodded, and a moment later her arms, covered in temporary tattoos, were extended over head in triumph. That was really exciting," she said.

Weightlifting a confidence booster

Rory, who has six Ontario records in the 15-and-under and 17-and-under categories, has no peers. She was the youngest in her group of 12 female lifters in the Toronto event. The next youngest was 24.

It would definitely be nice to have more kids in the sport so I could, like, talk to them," she says. But I mean, it's fine because I don't have many people to compete against."

Rory says weightlifting gives her confidence. When I get something in weightlifting, I say to myself, If you did this, then you can do that, too.' Sometimes it works."

But for all her success, it is still gymnastics that takes up most of her time - 16 hours a week to weightlifting's three - and seems to be her favourite sport. (She also surprised her parents by joining the volleyball team at school, where she's in Grade 5 after skipping a year.)

I love gymnastics," she says. I love to move, I love all the people that go to my gym. It's really fun."

Her parents see that difference. She loves gymnastics; she's good at weightlifting," van Ulft says.

Adds Noad: If she quits gymnastics, would she quit weightlifting? That's the million-dollar question."

Kerry Gillespie is a Toronto-based sports reporter for the Star. Reach her via email: kgillespie@thestar.ca