Hannah Crymble aims to lift the weight of the world in more ways than one.
Crymble spends her professional life at the Belfast Cancer Centre at Belfast City Hospital and in her personal life, is the British 63kg Champion in weightlifting. A combination that involves fighting battles on a daily basis.
2025 was a year to remember as she claimed the 69kg Ulster Open Championship, British 63kg Championship and placed 21st in the World in the 63kg category.
But now the focus shifts to 2026 where Crymble can complete the treble with victory at the Irish National Championships and compete at the Commonwealth Games.
Both professional and personal loves began at university and the now 30-year-old is still as passionate about both as she juggles her career and sport.
“I started weightlifting when I was studying to be a nurse and I had no idea what was ahead of me.” Said Hannah.
“I was a gymnast but after finishing, I started going to CrossFit and thought this was great. A girl that I was doing CrossFit with wanted to go to this weightlifting gym and I finally caved in.
“I’d never seen weightlifting before. I didn’t know it was a sport. Then on my first visit, the weightlifting coach came up to me and asked would I ever think about competing in weightlifting. He was like ‘I think you could be good. I think you could represent Ireland.’ I’m just such a competitive driven person that as soon as he mentioned those words I was like let’s do it.”
“In those three years at University, I started working as a nurse and that was the same year I made my first international weightlifting team.”
Away from the weightlifting, she faces another battle as she seeks to beat Cancer. That competitive drive is what spurs her on to be the best she can for her patients:
“I just decided one day that I wanted to work in cancer. I’ve always worked within cancer. I find the patients so lovely. I just love the job. I love the staff that it brings together.
“It can be obviously a very sad area to work in, but I also just find it such a rewarding area. There are the happy sides where patients do get better. But there is also the other side where unfortunately maybe that’s not their reality.
“We get to know our patients very well. So being able to support them towards the end of their life, helping them go in the way they want that to go and to make it as comfortable as we can. It’s a very scary time for both the patient and the families.
“If I want to do something, I want to make sure I’m doing it right, whether that be my training, whether that be my job. I take that into everything I do in life. I want to make sure I’m giving my patients the best care. I want to make sure I’m being the best colleague I can be. Then within my training, I want to make sure I’m just giving everything I have on the day.”
The Newtownards weightlifter trains out of her personalised garage gym, built by her Dad, and it’s where dreams are turned into reality.
Not many little girls dream of becoming a weightlifter I but it’s one that drives Hannah everyday as she seeks to encourage and motivate other women:
“When I first started weightlifting, I just loved how strong it makes you feel and putting the weights on. You were always trying to lift as much as the boys and it’s just really empowering as a woman.
“Many people may think it’s a boy sport and that maybe girls just can’t do it. Girls are just as capable of doing weightlifting as boys. I think it’s very important for women to do it, to learn how our bodies can move and how strong our bodies are. We’re not weaker than the boys. We can be just as strong, if not stronger.”
Hannah is one of the Sport NI Athlete Award recipients who will be aiming to represent Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. This would be her second games after finishing sixth in 2022 in Birmingham.
The Commonwealths represent a rare opportunity as Hannah explains: “Being able to represent Northern Ireland on a weightlifting platform at the Games, it’s the only opportunity we get to do it. We’re either down the Ireland pathway or GB pathway. There is no Northern Irish pathway on the international platform. It’s a really special opportunity to put the Northern Ireland singlet on and lift for my home country.
“Every athlete has their eyes on medals and to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games would be incredible. It would be a dream come true as corny as that may be. That’s the main goal but to also have a clean and strong competition.”
Athlete Award funding is made possible thanks to National Lottery players, who raise over £30m for good causes every week.