In five years she has doubled the weight she lifts, has gone from lifting just under 40 kilograms to over 100, and is aiming to make history in the women's -55kg category in Paris. "It's been a long struggle, but I'm finally there and the view is incredible," she said in an interview with the BBC. It is her challenge and her dream. It has been since she started in sport and now she is on the verge of achieving it.

McGuinness started out swimming but soon switched to powerlifting. She had a difficult time when she almost retired and left the sport behind. Her progress and development has been remarkable, and hopes to finish the job next week. "It has really made me fall in love with the sport again," she told the BBC. 

The pandemic forced her to reinvent herself and train at home. She said, "When the lockdown was announced, I got some basic gym equipment, resistance bands and small dumbbells." There, in solitude, away from any distractions, she worked hard to reach the Paralympic Games, where she will now compete. She can't devote all her time to training, she has to work as well, but it's a combination that will see McGuinness arrive at the big event even stronger than expected.

You always need someone to show you the way. As well as her family, the Paralympic powerlifter's role model was her school nurse, Ellie Simmonds, a double gold medallist in swimming. "I got a letter that said, 'Come to the World Dwarf Games, meet people like you' - and that's when I realised what the Paralympics were," she said.

That was in 2012, and from then on, the young girl set out on a path. She began to organise her life around sport. What started out as a curiosity became a goal.

The Paralympic Games is the main event where athletes with different disabilities share their efforts, joys and sorrows. You see powerlifters with dwarfism. You see athletes in wheelchairs," says McGuinness. She added, "The sport they do requires a lot of work behind the scenes to achieve maximum strength and power. Whoever lifts the heaviest weight wins. It is as simple and as difficult as that."

McGuinness lifted 110kg in training and has calculated that, in a highly competitive category, gold can come from lifting over 130kg. She has improved and arrives in top form, her calculations close to the figures that could win her a medal.