Amalia Perez

Amalia Perez is well established on the Para powerlifting scene. She has been participating in the sport for over 20 years now, and during this period she has become one of Mexico’s most well-known Paralympians thanks to the success that she has acclaimed throughout her career.

Perez is coached by her husband, Jose Enrique Alvarado Paiz, and she trains four days per week.

In 2018, Perez proved again how strong she is by winning the women’s up to 61kg at the Americas Open Championships in Bogota, Colombia, and the Asia-Oceania Open Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan.

The year before, she enjoyed one of her most-celebrated victories as she claimed the World Championships title in the up to 55kg on home soil in Mexico City.

Perez made her Paralympic debut at Sydney 2000, where she won the silver medal in the women's up to 52kg weight category.

After taking another silver medal at the 2002 World Championships, the Mexican dropped down a weight category in search of a gold medal at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games. However, despite her best efforts she could once again only muster a silver.

Things changed after this event, though, as Perez went one better at the 2006 World Championships, where she finally won a gold medal.

Then in Beijing, she set a new Paralympic record with a lift of 128kg en route to claiming her first Paralympic gold.

In 2012, Perez won her second Paralympic gold medal at the London Games in the women's up to 60kg weight category with a Paralympic-record lift of 135kg to prove to the world that she is only getting better with age.

And that is exactly what she has continued to do, winning World Championships gold in the women's up to 61kg in Dubai, UAE, in 2014.

In 2015, as well as gold at the first Americas Open Championships, she set a new world record at the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games.

And at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Perez secured her third consecutive gold medal with a new world record of 130kg, the third time she has held a world best mark.