Oz Encounter: From 26 kilograms to WBFF World Pro Fitness Champion

On 27th August 2016, the results of The World Beauty, Fitness and Fashion (WBFF) competition, a competition which allows athletes to show off their muscle and beauty on a world stage, were released in Toronto, Canada. Here, 27-year-old Hattie Boydle from Sydney used her alluring figure to capture the judges’ hearts.

She defeated a Brazilian contestant who was the champion for four years and became the WBFF World Pro Fitness Champion for the 10th WBFF. Her outstanding performance spurred excitement throughout Australia as she became the first Australian WBFF Champion.

Being in the best shape of her life, this wasn’t always the case for Hattie. At the age of 16, the death of a friend made Hattie collapse both mentally and physically.

“Everyone’s worried about you. I knew something was wrong but I found it very hard to stop … You can’t control your thoughts and your actions. You isolate yourself. You restrict yourself on everything,” said Hattie.

“She didn’t like where she was. It was a sadness. It was very sad,” said Hattie’s mother.

It was during that time that Hattie went on a hunger strike to deal with her emotions. Not long after, it developed into anorexia, leading to just skin and bones. She weighed only 26 kilograms.

Her behavior and condition made her family extremely worried. Her mother decided to use fitness to help her become healthy.

“We have to all band together, and just help her get better,” said Hattie’s mother.

After four years of hard work with her family, Hattie was able to overcome her eating disorder. A smile returned to her face again. During this process, she fell in love with fitness, and started to have a new understanding about health and bodybuilding. Bodybuilding has become her new life direction.

“It’s taken me eight years to … be at this level,” said Hattie.

After eight years of training, entering in 4 WBFF competitions, Hattie finally became the WBFF Champion in 2016 and transformed into a successful role model.

“You have to go the gym even when you don’t feel like going, but the end results are so rewarding,” said Hattie.

This year on the 26th of August, Hattie once again entered the WBFF competition and won second place. Hattie said that fitness brings her joy and positive self-esteem.

“I want to be the champion for as long as I can, two years, three years, four years, five years.”

Through People’s Online Daily Australia, Hattie showed her interest towards China and wishes to have the opportunity to share her understanding about bodybuilding with the Chinese community.

She expressed her great interest for China, stating that climbing the Great Wall of China and wearing the qipao dress would be a dream come true for her.

OZ Encounter is a video program produced by People’s Daily Online with introductions and comprehensive information on Australia’s tourism, food, leisure culture, news etc. The program brings information on beautiful views and delicious food around Australia, lead audience to experience the unique landscape and cultural glamour of Australia with micro-video. (People’s Daily Online/ Tingting Yan)