Tara Green was nervous.
Her heart started racing. Then she settled down.
The 24-year-old had reason to be jittery.
She was the first Prince George athlete competing in the by-invitation-only Olympia Pro Powerlifting meet Sept. 20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Olympia is one of the largest sporting shows in the world and the place where Arnold Schwarzenegger made his name.
But Green, who trains at Prince George's XConditioning, didn't let her nerves get the best of her.
She simply stepped onto the stage that morning and muscled her way to a gold medal and a new world record of 540 pounds in the 181-pound women's single ply (one-layer lifting suit) squat category. She bested the old squat record of 529 pounds by 11 pounds.
"Squat was my first event and I went in at 540 pounds," she said. "I had to get two out of three judges to say it was a good squat and they did. My next attempt [562 pounds] I took a step forward so I didn't get that weight and on my next one [562 pounds] I didn't go down low enough and I didn't get that one. I'm pretty happy with 540 and getting the world record.
"On powerliftingwatch.com my squat is ranked number one in the 181-pound single ply division. I'm excited about that."
Green was the only one out of three women in the heavyweight category and the only Canadian competing in all three powerlifting events - squat, bench press and deadlift.
Squat is her best event.
In the bench press, she successfully lifted 315 pounds. She improved that to 335 pounds in her third attempt and went for 353 pounds (a pound better than the world record) in her fourth attempt but didn't get it.
Her best lift in the deadlift was 457 pounds, which she reached on her second attempt.
More than 100,000 people came through the doors to watch the one-day competition.
Next up for Green is the World Powerlifting Congress World Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla., from Nov. 10-16, where more than 800 lifters will be competing.
Green will focus on the bench press with a goal of 365 pounds.
"It will be good competing against those I haven't really seen before," she said. "I'll still train on the squat and deadlift [in the meantime] but will focus on training my upper back and body."
