100 women of 2024: Thammy Nguyen will walk away knowing 'I’ve given it my all’
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Thammy Nguyen is petite — just four foot 10 inches tall — but this steely young Dubliner packs the power of a giant.
She recently added two more European bronze medals (in the 49 kilo weight class) to the historic first she won in 2023 when she became the first Irish weightlifter (of either gender) to medal at the European Weightlifting Championships.
She can lift twice her own body weight but what makes this 27-year-old entrepreneur and proud mother such an inspirational triple-threat is her dazzling personality and unashamed ambition.
She was still in her teens when she set up her first company (Thammy Lash) to fund her training but quit competing in her early 20s to have her family and build three businesses (two eyelash salons, a CrossFit gym and a fitness clothing company - now sold).
But when she watched her only sibling Nhat represent Ireland in badminton at the Tokyo Olympics she realised that was still one of her dreams and returned to serious training. Her last chance to make Paris 2024 is a World Cup in Thailand in April.
Rising standards means Olympic qualification now looks a bridge too far: “I’d have to improve by 20kgs in five weeks but I will give it my last shot and walk away knowing I’ve given my all.” That exceptional candour, especially about her struggles, is what makes this sporting trailblazer so relatable.
Not doing enough pelvic floor exercises on her first birth left her vulnerable to leakage on very heavy lifts and she has spoken openly about wearing a nappy in competitions to avoid distraction and embarrassment.
Her latest medals were achieved against all the odds after a particularly testing time in business, including the settlement of a long-running legal case and the unrelated loss of the lease on the gym, which had to be relocated and kitted out with just a week’s notice.
The resulting stress caused two separate bouts of illness before Christmas so she was exhausted at Europeans yet wrote a letter to her children, promising them a medal each.
“My husband says I have this ‘mum strength’," she says.
"It was like they were with me in the moment to help me lift that weight.”
She looks likely to retire from international competition this year for a better work/family balance but Nguyen’s influence in her sport, and as a spokeswoman for female empowerment, is only starting.
- Thammy Nguyen is one of our 100 women of 2024. Read the full list here.