Karenjeet Kaur Bains

Karenjeet Kaur Bains (born 23 July 1996) is a British powerlifter, former track and field athlete and television personality known for appearing on the television show Gladiators as "Athena". She has won the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships junior title and became the first British Sikh woman to represent her country at both the European and World championships.

Early life

Karenjeet Kaur Bains was born 23 July 1996 in Warwickshire, England, to Sikh parents from Punjab, India. Her mother came from a family of wrestlers and her father was a former bodybuilder and powerlifter. She attended Myton School, where she was a champion track and field athlete, racing in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 300 metres, and Hammer throw. She earned the nickname "Bullet Bains" at school due to her speed. Her older twin brothers were also athletes, competing nationally in the 400 metres hurdles. She attended Durham University, where she gained a degree in accounting.

Career Whilst at university, Bains took the British and English powerlifting titles and won the British Universities powerlifting in the junior women's 63 kg category. Her first senior event was at the World Classic Bench Press Championships in Vilnius, Lithuania and she came sixth. Despite being only 5 ft 4 in tall, one of the all-time shortest Gladiators, she has been training up to 6 times a week, to maintain her physique for the show. In 2024, she appeared on the quiz show The Weakest Link alongside fellow Gladiators.

She was the featured in an episode of the second series of the BBC TV series Extraordinary Portraits, where her portrait was painted by Amar Stewart.

A major surgery following from a leg injury put Bains' Athena off air from the third season of Gladiators.