Commonwealth Games 2026: NHS doctor to compete in weightlifting

An NHS doctor is trading his stethoscope for a weightlifting belt to compete in his first Commonwealth Games. Jonathan Chin, from Chapel Brampton, Northampton, will be competing in the 71kg category at 9:00 BST on Monday. The 32-year-old works between 50 and 70 hours a week in Nottingham, training with whatever time he has left. He said: "I chose to be a doctor and I chose to be a weightlifter, so I knew I had to be resilient." "There are days when I just don't want to train, and obviously, like most people, I just don't want to go to work," he said. "But being really, really disciplined and knowing I made these choices, I want to be here. I've got really, really great opportunities ahead of me." He told BBC Radio Northampton presenter Annabel Amos that he weighed 71.5kg (158lbs), and had to lose another 500g (1lb). University of Bristol Chin did a student placement at the University of Bristol Chin explained that he stumbled across the sport accidentally. "I used to be a sprinter and a long jumper. Got injured doing that. Went to a gym near me to rehab my injuries and it just happened to be that, in the back of that gym, they had a weightlifting area. "[I] made really good friends with some of those weightlifters, tried out weightlifting and realised I was much better at weightlifting than I was sprinting. So, I made that transition."