Bodybuilder breaks barriers to fulfil ambitions
Published:Tuesday | February 8, 2022 | 12:05 AM
Armed with her confident demeanour and her indominable spirit, Kristen McGregor has shattered athletic expectations to dominate the sport of bodybuilding. The 26-year-old placed first in the body fitness category at the Jamaica Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Association National Championship and Fitness Festival in 2018.
Not only has she made an impact locally but she has also captivated the region. During that same year, she won gold at the Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships in Mexico. She also qualified for the World Championships in Spain, where she finished in the top eight, making her the highest-placing Jamaican in the sport.
McGregor, who won the Miss Olympia Amateur title in the women’s figure category at the 2020 NPC Worldwide Amateur Olympia competition, reflected on her journey during an interview with The Gleaner.
When asked why she chose bodybuilding, she stated, “I ask myself the same question but someone saw the potential in my physique and introduced me to the sport. Her name is Audrey Allwood and, in 2017 when I tried it for the first nationals when I came third, I fell in love with the sport.”
Allwood, who also serves as president of the Jamaica Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Association (JABBFA), became her mentor after she saw her potential after training for a rugby tournament.
INTERESTS IN ATHLETICS
The Queen’s School and University of Technology, Jamaica alumnus has always had an interest in athletics from high school. However, she is the first to admit at the time she did not anticipate that she would one day become a professional bodybuilder.
“I remember, once my dad was watching a video of some bodybuilding women on his phone and he called me and said ‘Kris, look at these women’, and I was like ‘Why they look like that? They go too extra and they look too much’, and he started laughing. For a second, I thought, what if I do that? However, that was the end of the thought.”
Thus, when she was approached by Allwood, she admitted that she had thought about the sport but had no avenue to explore this interest. Despite the national competition being only three weeks away, Allwood was not deterred.
“I hide her out for about a couple days because I was still a bit sceptical about it, and she called me and she said, ‘I don’t see you at training,’ and I said alright, I’ll be there tomorrow. I even went behind my dad’s back to do it because he did not want me to do it,” she chuckled.
Some of her father’s reservations included the fact that bodybuilders are often scantily clad when competing and he also raised concerns about his daughter’s physique being based on others’ opinions. In McGregor’s own words, “He didn’t see it as a sport, he saw it more as a sale.”
She revealed that, although her father supports her on her journey, he has never attended her competitions, despite her sterling performance. For some athletes, this would be a crushing blow but, for McGregor, she was undaunted.
SUPPORT
“I didn’t really pay attention to the emotions. I just said okay, if you are not coming, that’s fine. There are other supporters. I mean, you won’t get the support from everybody even though you may want it from your parents, but not everything that they are involved in they will want to be a part of,” she told The Gleaner.
Regardless of the limited time to prepare, McGregor placed third with best figure for the competition. The following year, she went on to win the competition and launch her international career.
However, she added that she can always depend on her mother, who has continuously backed her athletic journey. This sort of enthusiasm has buoyed up the young athlete, who explained that a continuous challenge faced is the lack of sponsorship, given the perception that bodybuilding is a hobby rather than a sport.
As a consequence, finding sponsorship sometimes fills her with anxiety. McGregor also shared that she continues to face stigma, with persons inquiring about her sexuality and her choice to build muscle.
This has not diminished her ambition, as McGregor’s mission is to win the title of Miss Olympia next, which represents the zenith of her athletic career. McGregor, who is the 2021 Prime Minister Youth Awardee in the sports category, aims to make an impact by being a role model for young female athletes.
For youth who may be daunted, she said,“People will always talk, you can’t please everybody and, if you try to please everybody, then you have a lot of pleasing to do …. Live to please yourself, live to make yourself happy.”