IS A CHAMPION BORN OR CREATED ?
Dimitri : My name is Dimitri Williams . I was born and raised in the Caribbean Island of St . Vincent and the Grenadines . I started off my journey by participating in numerous sports like track and field , rugby , soccer , and volleyball . Back then , I started going to the gym with the goal of getting stronger and faster . Eventually , I was approached by a family member who offered me to work out in his backyard gym . In those days , we used concrete blocks and old vehicle parts as our weights . After a few months had passed , I had built a passion for getting in shape and feeling good about myself . I had a lot of positive comments from my close friends about my physique , so I pursued it even further !
I did my very first show which was the Mr . St . Vincent amateur show . Here , I placed second not having any knowledge of dieting or bodybuilding . With the existing scarcity of food at the time , I was eating 2 meals a day from my mother ' s cooking and cornmeal porridge before and after training !
I did a few other shows after that and was surprised that I won ! I also traveled with my mentor to the Cayman Islands to take part in the INBF grand prix where I place 2nd in my first show away from home . I also did the INBF / WNBF Barbados Mr . Universe winning the amateur Universe !
To this day , when I tell my story , people are amazed , I had dieted for those Universe shows consuming only fruits . My fat burners were black coffee mixed with apple cider vinegar . Commercial fat-burning supplements were super high in cost and a large percentage of people like myself could not afford groceries , much less high-cost supplements . It was all mind over matter . I love this sport and wanted to go places and I was determined to find a way to make it happen !
Juan : Wow , what an incredible story about how you got into this game ! How did you handle the change of coming to Canada and how different was it to be a bodybuilder here as opposed to in St . Vincent ?
Dimitri : Coming to Canada was not an easy task . I came as a seasonal farm worker for 5 years . After this , I was granted my documentation to stay . I worked tirelessly at the time and had fallen out of love with competing . But once again , I ran into my mentor Afford Rodgers and went to one of his shows . After his show , he said to me : “ It ’ s time to get you back on the stage .” I thought about it and in 2018 I did my first show here , the King Kong Classic .
Juan : I can imagine it was not easy those first few years adjusting to a new life here . Tell us about what challenges you overcame when you came here and how you started competing here all the way to being Mr . Natural Canada .
Dimitri : I did my first show here which was the King Kong Classic where I did both classic physique and bodybuilding . I won both my classes and both overalls . I was content and never thought of doing the 2019 Canadian Natural Pro Qualifier . Once again , Efford said : “ I think you should do it .” We prepped for the show together where I did the bodybuilding welterweight and the classic physique class . I won the bodybuilding class but not the overalls . I also won my class in the classic physique division and the overalls . Here I achieved my IFBB pro card . This was such a milestone . I was the first IFBB pro from my country . This was history !
Juan : Winning your IFBB pro card must have been such an amazing feeling ! How has your progress been between turning pro and now being just a few weeks out from the Toronto Pro Show in 2023 ?