Para Powerlifter Doaa Shayea Credits Religion and Sport for Inner Peace

Plymouth para powerlifter Doaa Shayea attributes her journey to finding inner peace to religion and sport. The 26-year-old, who was born with spina bifida, a spinal condition, expressed feeling that society had “constantly underestimated” her. Shayea, a Muslim, stated that her confidence was “non-existent” during childhood, but as she matured, she began exploring her religion and engaging in athletics. She explained, “I kind of got closer and understood my religion and researched more and found that inner peace. Sport was something that I threw myself into, it was an escape, a therapy for me.” After a sporting career that included wheelchair tennis and wheelchair racing, Shayea began competing in powerlifting at the age of 23. She mentioned that her coach had to persuade her to try powerlifting, as she initially considered it too masculine for someone mindful of their “feminine energy and feminine looks.” Shayea elaborated, “I think it’s because I associated powerlifting as a very male dominated sport. I didn’t want to go into a sport that had a stigma of being really muscly and look really hench. I wanted to keep that feminine look but I think it’s a stigma that as soon as a woman does weight training she’s going to get a six-pack and crazy muscles and that’s not true. I think it’s really important for women to do weightlifting.” Shayea, who described competing for her country as “truly an honour,” now dedicates every day to her sport, training three hours at a time. However, as a child, she felt her disability made her conspicuous and recalled how she would “fake it” to conceal “the pain and suffering.” She stated, “[My confidence] was non-existent. I don’t even know at one point if it was me faking it by being loud and extroverted to hide the pain and suffering and difference that I felt from everyone else. But even if you don’t have a disability you want to fit in and belong, I think that’s just us as human beings. So the add on of having a disability is something that makes you stand out to the rest of the crowd. And, obviously, as a kid you don’t have the tools to be able to manage that. So for me, it was really hard to feel like I belonged or fitted in and to find that self-love and acceptance.” Shayea noted that wisdom comes with age and maturity, adding, “That’s when your mentality changes.”