Addenbrooke's nurse who took up powerlifting to help her back, wins gold at major championships

• Video report by ITV News Anglia's Stuart Leithes

An intensive care nurse who took up powerlifting to help her bad back, has just won an international competition in New Zealand.

Siobhan Taylor, 44, works at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, but started to lift weights so she could help a back injury, which she feared might force her to give up working as a nurse.

"I was waiting to see the GP and was advised by one of the physiotherapists to see a personal trainer, learn how to lift and build my core" she told ITV News Anglia.

"I've not had any back problems since, which is kind of how I fell into powerlifting.

"It was a way of me being fit enough to do my job."

Siobhan, who lives in Haverhill in Suffolk, has been the All England Powerlifting Champion in her category for the past three years.

As a result she was selected for the IPF Commonwealth Championships in Auckland, and staggeringly, won two gold medals and the overall gold in her weight category on her debut.

Rhett Milton-Barnes, her coach at the Point Blank gym near Cambridge, called her achievements "incredible."

"Not bad for two years work." he said.

"She's come so far in her self development and her physical development as well, so to go out there for the first time ever, she's done a fantastic job."

"I was ecstatic to come back with gold" Siobhan said.

"We went out there hoping for a good result and we've come back with the best result and that's from really great support from work, from people in the gym, from my coach, from my family.

"I'm really thrilled. I don't actually think it's sunk in yet."

But she's not stopping there. Siobhan is determined to keep training as a powerlifter - and determined to win more competitions.

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