“The highs and lows were very extreme, when I left Hong Kong, they said they weren’t sure if they’d see me again until I made the Games.”

Coates put her hair and beauty business on hold, and missed her daughter’s 18th birthday, and her high school graduation.

“She was great and very supportive and behind me 100 per cent. She was never talking about how I wasn’t going to be there,” Coates said. “But for me as a mother, she was leaving school, leaving her friends, they were going all around the world for university, it was a massive thing, missing out on being a support system for her.”

Coates said that making the decision focused her. If she was going to put herself and her family through this, she would give it 100 per cent.

“Having made that commitment, it unconsciously flicked a switch, I was leaving everything to go and train,” Coates said. “I had no restrictions, I am going away to be an athlete, I’m leaving everything to be a full-time athlete. It was hard, and it focused me on the training.”

Coates took up CrossFit about eight years ago. She was always a competitive person, and when she started the sport this was no different. She threw herself in the deep end and trained five times a week.

“But after about three years, I realised that if I really wanted to do better I needed to perhaps change my gym and change my thinking,” she said. “Perhaps I needed to apply myself, and instead of being an accidental athlete, put more thought into what I was doing, and be a bit more present.”

Coates joined Coastal Fitness HK and took another leap in her performance. She missed out on the Games by just a couple of spots a few years in a row and Coastal realised Coates had potential, and created a support network to facilitate her making the Games.

During The Open in 2022, Hong Kong gyms were shut. Coastal “pulled out all the stops” to allow their athletes to compete. They provided equipment so they could complete the workouts outdoors.

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Coates made it though The Open, and that is when it was decision time. She had been training with borrowed equipment, but for months had been unable to do heavy lifts or anything that required a lot of kit.

The quarter-finals would involved a rope climb, which she could not manage from home, so that is when Coates decided to move to Dubai.

Coates made it through the quarter-finals and then performed well in her semi-final too, earning a spot at the Games.

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Haynes did not make the Games and was considering going back to Hong Kong, so the pair had to make another decision.

Was Haynes going to stick around in Dubai to coach Coates or go home now his personal goal was over? If Haynes had gone, Coates probably would have followed, but then she would have faced a week in quarantine during a critical phase of her training.

Thankfully, Haynes stayed to support Coates. The pair continued to work then it was finally time to go to the Games.

“At the start of the Games, when I collected all of my kit, that was a pinnacle for me,” Coates said. “I had already done my best to get there. It was a massively emotional time.”

Coates targeted finishing in the top five and said she would have felt that “I’d let too many people down” if she was near the bottom.

“I just wanted to be middle of the pack, and I’d be happy,” she said.

Coates did not look at the leader board during day one, wanting to focus on her own performance, but got the sense she was doing well by the amount of messages she was getting from friends at home and through social media.

Coates was even in first place for a while when starting day two.

“I was totally motivated by that. I was quite surprised, I was happy, but I knew that there were three events to do and a couple wouldn’t be my strongest,” she said.

“I knew that I just had to stick with my strategy, and take it one event at the time, and it should all pay off. My coach said, don’t go too hot too soon, don’t blow up, and you should be OK. It was just one event of the time.”

“Then to finish second, was amazing. It felt amazing, euphoric, unbelievable knowing that I’d done what I did, it was unbelievable. I’m very happy, I’ve done my best and I felt like I hadn’t let anyone down. I still can’t believe it.”