How old were you when you broke your first world record? What's that? You've never done that? Because it's kind of really hard? Yeah. Same. So prepare to feel pangs of underachievement as we introduce you to the amazing Damiyah Smith, a 12-year-old athlete and boxer who has broken 27 world records in powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting.
She's basically a superhero in training:
Damiyah—nicknamed The Powerhouse Princess—started lifting at the age of eight, inspired by hanging out at the gym her parents owned in Commerce, Oklahoma. By 10, she was the youngest sponsored athlete in the world and found herself competing against boys, due to a lack of female competitions for her age range.
For obvious reasons, Damiyah has become an advocate for sports equality for girls, starting Powerhouse Athletics, a team of 13 outstanding athletes, most of whom are as small and badass as she is.
Check out this "Wrestling Unicorn":
Talk about girl power!
Damiyah is also outspoken about body positivity, confidence at any size and female solidarity. Unsurprisingly, being an impressive young person in the age of the internet invites trolls, but Damiyah has zero qualms about publicly facing down her critics like a boss, even when they're older than her.
Damiyah will be one of the first competitors on ‘American Ninja Warrior Junior,’ which premieres on October 13, 2018. We assume she will eventually join forces with her fellow competitors and form an X-Men/ Marvel's Runaways type of coalition in order to save the Earth. It seems like the logical next step for her.
