Weightlifting: Commonwealth Championship 2017 |13 September 2017

Gold medallist Agricole returns

Weightlifter Clementina Agricole returned home yesterday afternoon from Australia after yet another great accomplishment ‒ winning the 63kg gold medal at the Commonwealth Championship.

Competing in Gold Coast last week, Agricole lifted 85kg in snatch and 115 kg in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 200kg to win the category.

In fact it was her last clean & jerk attempt that won her the gold medal. The win adds to her African Championship title of three gold medals she won in July in Mauritius.

Present to meet her at the Seychelles International Airport upon her disembarkation from a regular Emirates Airline flight were the Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture Mitcy Larue, the principal secretary for youth and sports Fabian Palmyre, special advisor for sports Jean Larue and Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association secretary general Alain Alcindor.

Minister Larue presented Agricole with a hamper as a sign of appreciation for her accomplishment.

Accompanied by her French/Lebanese trainer Zaher Hamdan, who has worked with some other top Seychellois athletes, Agricole said she was a bit frightened when she first saw the start list, especially from an unknown competitor who is much younger and looking strong.

“But I went into the competition with determination so as to get the medal. Getting the medal was the only thing on my mind and with God’s grace I was able to do it,” she said, adding “the competition was tough”.

Lifter Agricole was placed second after the snatch exercise with 85kg in her first attempt and she failed both her second and third attempts at 90kg. Lifting 110kg in her first attempt in clean & jerk, the pressure got to Agricole as she failed her second attempt at 115kg.

As she pointed out “with concentration and determination I managed to lift the 115kg in my last clean & jerk attempt to win the championship’s 63kg category.”

“As I am good in clean & jerk and it is my specialty, I was able to cover for the failed attempt,” she said joyfully, thanking God for helping her up to now and President Danny Faure for believing and for making her training camp possible and to everyone who supported, helped and also believed in her to win the medal.

Prior to competing in Gold Coast, Agricole was on a three-week training camp in Mauritius. Last July in the African Championship held in Mauritius, Agricole won the 63kg category with 86kg in snatch and 107kg in clean & jerk for an Olympic total of 193 kg. 

This is the second time Agricole wins a Commonwealth Championship gold medal.  In 2009, she wrote a piece of history in the Commonwealth Championships as she won the women’s senior 53kg category gold medal – the country’s first ever – in Penang, Malaysia, after finishing with an Olympic total of 177kg (77kg in snatch and 100kg in clean & jerk).

P. J.