Chilean weightlifter surprised by unexpected birth

December 16, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

A Chilean Olympic weightlifter who didn’t know she was pregnant gave birth to a baby boy while training.

Elizabeth Poblete

Chilean Olympic weightlifter Elizabeth Poblete, 22, was training at a gym in São Paulo on December 8 in an effort to move up from the 75 kilogram weight class to the 85 kilogram weight class. Poblete represented Chile in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, taking twelfth place.

Poblete fell ill that day while training and she called a doctor. Soon after, she prematurely gave birth to Eric Jose, weighing in at 1.15 kilograms (2.54 pounds). The couple was rushed to a hospital in São Paulo, and the three-month premature Eric Jose was placed in intensive care.

Horacio Reis, head trainer at the gym, described the birth as “a surprise.”

“A week ago I acted as a judge in a competition in Chile and this girl was competing,” Reis told the AFP. “All went well and she won the competition. I could see she was a big girl, round and strong. That’s all I noticed.”

Some female athletes experience a disruption in menstruation called amenorrhea. Recent research has shown that a lack of sufficient calories in the diet may cause the menstrual cycle to deviate from the norm. This often has the effect of obscuring a pregnancy.

Poblete initially told reporters that she was discharged from the hospital early when she told staff that she couldn’t pay for treatment. However, the BBC reports that the hospital denies releasing her due to lack of funds.