Massive congratulations to Aaron Smith for his efforts in winning gold yesterday at the Sydney International Open.
Aaron's preparation was a very dedicated one. He sits in between weight classes and made a decision to take the lighter class. The good thing about it was that he committed to it and didn't second guess his choice, he had a goal and he focused on it the entire preparation. He put in a lot of work both preparing meals and fitting in extra sessions when he needed to cut the weight and he got the rewards.
For me, I am very pleased that he was able to build strength even whilst dropping 4kg of body weight over the past month. At best people want to maintain their strength levels so to actually increase during this time period was a plus. We didn't have to deplete and definitely didn't want to, to make weight, as weigh in is on the day for this competition and we didn't want Aaron feeling tired or weak leading in.
It is a pleasure working with such a dedicated athlete and I am so happy for him getting his win. He is a very humble bloke and I know how much he put into it.
Congratulations mate. Keep working hard and we'll keep on improving.
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