Up Close … with weightlifter Ruby Malvina |19 September 2017

‘I love weightlifting and nothing will force me to stop doing it’

Thirty-three-year-old Ruby Malvina is infamously known as the young, promising Seychellois weightlifter who received a four-year ban after failing her doping tests in 2015. Indeed in 2015, Ruby was on the express train towards winning female athlete of the year title until she was derailed by the doping scandal. But what do we really know about Ruby Malvina? Seychelles NATION met up with her for a little chat.

Childhood

Ruby described her childhood as hardly conventional. “I didn’t know who my mother was until I was 12 so I grew up with my dad in Takamaka,” she related without hesitation.  

“The moment I met my mother for the first time I was extremely emotional and it was a touching moment for me. I was even happier when I learned that I had brothers and sisters on my mother’s side. I even discovered the existence of a brother who had the same mother and father as me, but he had been living with our mother.”

As the story goes her mother was “en dimoun lavil” and hence moved back to St Louis after separating with Ruby’s father when she was only five years old. According to her mother, it was Ruby who refused to leave her father’s side. Over time her father entered a new relationship which resulted into the birth of a little brother for Ruby. But once again her step-mother also left and it was up to Ruby to care for her little brother while her father, who was a fisherman, was away on fishing trips. At the tender age of 10 Ruby had become a proficient cook and housekeeper.

Ruby attended Takamaka primary school up until she re-united with her mother, after which she continued her schooling at English River primary and Belonie secondary. This shift in residence however did not go as smoothly as expected and Ruby was placed at the Ste Elizabeth orphanage for a short while until the authorities were able to sort out all the procedures. 

Amid all these episodes, Ruby was still very active in sports at school, especially during her secondary years where she ran long-distance races, and won several medals in the National Inter-schools Athletics Championship. Her active involvment in athletics during her school days was nothing short of a precursor to her future achievements in the world of weightlifting.

Family life

Although far away from her father, Ruby’s bond with the man who brought her up remained as strong as ever and she visited him whenever she could. It is a bond which endured into her adulthood and was shattered with her father’s untimely death two years ago. With watery eyes Ruby said: “I loved my dad dearly. His death is something I find hard to digest and to talk about. I avoid talking about him at all costs because then my tears start dropping.” Ruby also has children of her own: a 14-year-old girl and 11-year-old boy. However because of her work and her current precarious living situation in Takamaka they do not live with her.

Weightlifting

Ruby in action in past competitions

“I was introduced into weightlifting by Janet Thélermont (now Georges) when I was only 15 years-old,” she said.

When asked why she chose a sport most girls would avoid she replied: “I know a lot of girls think you’ll get big and look like a man; that is not at all true. When you lift weights of course your muscles are going to build up but not everyone is the same.”

In fact Ruby expressed her concern that this perception is what is hindering girls from building a sports career around weightlifting.

“We do get girls at times, but they hardly last longer than a few months and it is a shame because the current weightlifters are going to retire at some point and there’ll be no replacement.”

She further stated that there are several techniques to lifting weights that many people ignore ‒ it involves knowing how to manipulate one’s legs, knees, waist and shoulders: “It’s not just lifting some weights and that’s all. There are specific techniques to weightlifting and that’s why it is internationally recognised as a sport,” she chuckled.

Her first international competition was in 2011 where she took part in the African Championship held in Cameroon. Over there she came out with a bronze medal in the 48kg category: “It was my very first competition and I was scared ‒ I could have done much better.”

Doping scandal

Our chat on international competitions led us to the sensitive topic of Ruby’s four-year ban imposed by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). The ban came about in 2015 after Ruby was tested positive for a performance enhancing drug called Stanozolol. This news followed her impressive performances at the Commonwealth Championship, the Indian Ocean Island Games and the All-Africa Games. All in all she had clinched six gold medals and a silver medal. The weightlifter was surely on her way towards claiming the title of Female Athlete of the Year 2015 especially with her Commonwealth Games’ gold medal.  With the ban enforced Ruby was (and still is) unable to compete in any local or international sports competition and she saw the promise of winning such a title disappear in a puff of smoke.

“When I first heard about the results I thought it was very strange. I did my tests before and after the All-Africa Games and ordinarily the results should come out two weeks before a competition. But after coming back from the All-Africa Games for three weeks, the results had still not come back so I left for the Commonwealth Games. Even after the Commonwealth Games my results were still unknown until two weeks later the results came out saying I had failed the doping test.”

It would have been a shock for anyone but Ruby took it in her stride because she personally felt that such a result could not be possible. “I did not let this incident affect my morale. I love doing this sport and I do not think I will be forced to stop doing it by anyone. I’m not bragging but 2015 was definitely my year and it is unfortunate this had to happen.”

What next?

Ruby has already served two years out of her four-year ban and is waiting in anticipation for 2019 when she will be able to finally compete once more.  She is currently training and keeping fit in order to jump right back into weightlifting once her ban is lifted.

“I want to show people that I will be back on my feet. Weightlifting is a sport I’m passionate about and just being tested positive does not automatically mean the end of the road.”

By Elsie Pointe