The 31-year-old athlete, who lost the use of her legs to polio as a child, began powerlifting in elementary school, training with her brother in exchange for ice cream. Widiasih is aiming for gold in the women’s 41kg category at the upcoming Paris Games, having already secured a bronze at Rio 2016 and a silver at Tokyo 2020.

“Powerlifting has changed my life a lot,” Widiasih told AFP. Reflecting on her journey, she added, “Maybe if I didn’t do powerlifting, I don’t know, I have no idea what I would do.”

Widiasih’s motivation comes from a desire to make her family and country proud. Despite the challenge posed by her injury, she remains determined: “It’s a personal target. Paris is not easy for me, but I will try as hard as I can. I will do my best for Indonesia, for my family.”

She trains alongside two other female para powerlifters, Siti Mahmudah and Sriyanti, who will also compete in Paris, making up part of Indonesia’s largest-ever contingent of Paralympic athletes.

Siti, who lost her left leg to amputation, will compete in her second Paralympics in the 79kg category, while Sriyanti, who also had polio, will compete in the +86kg class.

Widiasih highlighted the unique challenges women face in the sport, recalling a recent competition where she had to push through intense pain from her menstrual cycle to lift heavy weights. “Thank God I could handle it. It was quite disturbing. This won’t be experienced by male athletes,” she noted.

Her coach, Eko Supriyanto, is deeply impressed by the trio but is cautious about setting high expectations due to Widiasih’s injury. “We are pushing them to be able to compete at least for bronze,” he said.

Nonetheless, Widiasih remains hopeful that her success will inspire more women to take up powerlifting, “I hope a lot of women out there are inspired by us. Whatever our condition, as long as we give our effort, trust ourselves, there is nothing impossible for us.”