Standing just 4ft 10in, Choon Ta is – as you might imagine – a noticeably short man. But he doesn’t let that get to him. In fact, he’s chasing his dream. And he’s nearly caught up with it…
Tan is Britain’s smallest bodybuilder, measuring in at under five foot tall. He suffers from a rare genetic birth defect called ‘x-linked spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia tarda’. It’s a condition that impairs bone growth. It also causes a wide variety of other physical complications.
Now? He’s becoming successful in the sport. Here’s what he told UK newspaper, The Mirror:
“Finding out that I had a genetic defect and that I would not be the same as everyone else confused me as a child.
I didn’t feel that I was as good or the same as everyone else. I got bullied and tormented because of it.
Those several years were undoubtedly the worst of my life, but it is what led me to an incredible eye-opening journey.”
He began bodybuilding as a way of gaining confidence. And boy has it worked! He works out every day and it certainly shows.
“My main ambition now is to inspire people to believe in themselves,” he says. “And to know that they too can change their lives, no matter what the situation.”
Choon Ta. A bit of a hero…
