Valentina Mishina

Valentina Mishina is an athlete and coach who competes in the Physique division. Originally from the Moscow region, she now lives in Miami and holds a green card. By her own account, she has competed at the Olympia three times and placed sixth at her third.

Valentina was born in 1992 and grew up in the Moscow region. Her family didn’t have much: there was no father, her mother worked for two, and they lived, as she recalls, on day-old black bread and whatever the garden gave them. In second grade she signed herself up for volleyball, where practices were grueling. Her mother was skeptical about sports, and that only fired up Valentina’s drive to prove her wrong. She calls herself a “go-getter.”

In 2010 Valentina went to a male revue and was struck not by the dancing but by the performers’ bodies: she had never seen anyone in that kind of shape. She knew nothing, so she read Wikipedia and online forums. Then a coach at her gym, a powerlifting champion, offered to train her, and she said yes. According to her, they won the Russian junior championship, and she earned an official sports ranking. Powerlifting, Valentina says, became her foundation and her springboard.

In 2014 a judge noticed her at the gym. At registration it turned out she was the only one entering the Physique division: the other women hadn’t dared. In 2015 she won an application contest and began working with an endocrinologist, who taught her to count calories and eat flexibly. At the Russian championship she was placed fourth, but a judge who believed in her advised her to go to the Arnold in Barcelona. There, she says, she won her division and the overall title, beating a Brazilian athlete.

Next came her first contest in San Diego; her English, she admits, left a lot to be desired. She calls the season that followed a marathon: coaching with no days off, an online course, and about eight contests. She never once took first place, but the seconds and thirds earned her points. She climbed to first in the standings and qualified for the Olympia, then won the Chicago Pro. Her dream at the Olympia was a top-six finish, and at her third Olympia Valentina placed sixth.

Valentina isn’t competing right now: she says she’s taking a break but hasn’t announced that she’s leaving the stage. She needs the pause to feel like a confident woman no matter how she looks.

Valentina speaks candidly about herself: she doesn’t believe in herself, but she believes in the goal, and she makes no secret that anger and pain were her fuel. Everything we do in life, she believes, comes at a price. And happiness, to her, is sitting on a riverbank with nothing to your name and knowing you’re okay.