Weightlifting: Commonwealth Youth, Junior and Senior Championship and African Senior Championship-Medallists return to hero’s welcome |17 October 2011

Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vincent Meriton and National Sports Council chief executive Alain Volcère were at the Pointe Larue International Airport to greet and congratulate the lifters on their achievements and present them with flowers.

Elvis Jeanne and Janet Georges each won three gold medals in the African senior championship and a silver apiece in the Commonwealth senior championship on the platform of the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town.

Youth and Sports principal secretary Denis Rose and Major Games director general Eric Arnephie also accompanied the Seychelles delegation led by Seychelles Weightlifting chairman Robert Rose who also officiated in Cape Town.

Coaches McDonald Henriette and William Dixie, and medical officer Rene Youpa also made up the team.

Jeanne snatched 127kg and clean & jerked 159kg for an Olympic total of 277kg in the 105kg category at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town. His total lift of 277kg earned him the silver medal in the Commonwealth senior championship.

“I’m very happy for winning three gold medals in the African senior championship and a silver in the Commonwealth
senior championship. I had to fight hard to achieve these results,” 36-year-old Jeanne told Sports Nation.

Georges completed a clean sweep for the fifth time in the women’s 69kg division, finishing with an Olympic total of 206kg (snatch 96kg and clean & jerk 110kg) to also win the Commonwealth senior championship silver medal.

“I was ready to defend my African title and I succeeded,” said Georges whose other sweeps came in Nairobi, Kenya in 2002, Kampala, Uganda in 2005, Casablanca, Morocco in 2006 and Yaoundé, Cameroon last year.

The 32-year-old police officer, who has also extended her record as Seychelles’ highest gold medal winner in the African senior weightlifting championship with 16 after she also won a gold and two silver in Tunisia in 2004, noted that the biggest fight was in the Commonwealth senior championship against Indian Monika Devi Laishram.

“We both snatched 96kg but she clean and jerked 117kg while I did only 110kg after failing my 115kg attempt. I’m very happy and proud of what I’ve achieved,” she added.

Seychelles’ other medallists in Cape Town were: Sirous Farabeau (three silver medallists in the African senior championship – Olympic total of 187kg with 82kg in snatch and 105kg in clean & jerk in the 85kg category and a silver in the Commonwealth youth championship), Charles Siméon (Olympic total of 225kg for a silver, 110kg in snatch for bronze and 145kg in clean & jerk for silver in the 77kg category), Rena Agricole (three bronze medals in the African senior championship – Olympic total of 125kg with 60kg in snatch and 65kg in clean & jerk in the 63kg division and a silver medal in the Commonwealth youth championship), Ruby Malvina (three silver in the African senior championship with 163kg after snatching 70kg and lifting 93kg in the clean & jerk of the 58kg category), Rick Confiance (three silver in the senior 56kg category of the African senior championship after snatching 75kg and getting 90kg in the clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 165kg), Katsia Télémaque (three silver in the 48kg category of the African senior championship after snatching 65kg and finishing with 79kg in the clean & jerk for a 144kg total.  The same performance won her a bronze medal in the senior Commonwealth Championship) and Ian Rose (three bronze medals in the 69kg category of the African senior championship after snatching 105kg and lifting 130kg in the clean & jerk event for a total of 235kg).
The Seychelles men’s team finished runners-up behind hosts South Africa in the overall ranking in Africa, while the women’s were ranked third behind South Africa and Nigeria.

G. G.