“RECORDS are made to be broken”, was the phrase that sprang to mind at the 2002 National Weightlifting Championships held on Sunday December 1, at Victoria Gymnasium, where Clementina Agricole and Terence Dixie headed up competitive fields in both the women’s and men’s events.

While high profile sports, such as football and basketball, attract large crowds and wide spread popular participation, weightlifting, a field in which Seychelles has the potential to achieve at international level, is in danger of losing out through a lack of support. Despite a limited number of participants and a small audience, the athletes taking part in Sunday’s December 1, competition all gave of their best with performances which left them in a positive frame of mind ahead of next year’s Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) and which saw four new records set.

The awards for Best Lifter in the National Competition went to Terence Dixie and Clementina Agricole who were also awarded with the trophies for Best Junior Male and Best Junior Female, respectively.

Each lifter was given three attempts at the snatch and three at the clean and jerk and their best lifts from each event were added together to give the total weight lifted, which was 233.5kg by the 62­-kg Dixie and 130kg by 53-kg Agricole.

The impressive Dixie, triple gold medallist in the Junior category of this year­­’s African Weightlifting Championship, also claimed three records, improving the snatch best in the 62-kg category by .5kg and with the same lift improving the junior record by a huge 8kg, when he lifted 105.5kg.  He also managed to nudge up the clean and jerk record by 500 grams, from 127.5kg to 128kg.

The awards ceremony, which took place immediately after the contest, saw the trophy for Best Female Lifter of the Year go to the powerful Janet Thelermont, who was unfortunately sidelined in this event with an injured thigh muscle.

In the absence of Thelermont, both Julie Matatiken and Ruby Malvina took the chance to shine, the two competitors posting total scores of over 100kg, in spite of body weights of only 48-kg and 52-kg respectively. Matatiken lifted the clean and jerk record, in the 48-kg category, putting 500 grams on the previous record of 60.5kg, set by Malvina, last year, before she moved up a weight category.

The trophy for the Best Male Lifter of the Year was awarded to stalwart Steven Baccus. Powerfully built as Baccus is, he still seems to lift even more than his stature should allow and used his 94-kg to lift a total weight of 300kg, a combination of a comfortable 130kg in the snatch and 170kg in the clean and jerk. A failed attempt at his own180kg record in the clean and jerk showed that everyone has its limits, although it would be no surprise to see Baccus raise this weight under the pressure of an international competition.

Showing a consistency that belied his junior years, Terry Marie took the 85-kg category with six clean lifts, though he would have been denied if Peter Havelock had not ruled himself out through three failed attempts at 130kg in the clean and jerk. In the 105+kg category, Frank Accouche will be disappointed that in three attempts at raising 165kg, despite getting closer with each attempt, he was unable to sufficiently control the bar to have the lift count. Again it would come as no shock if Accouche was to succeed in lifting this weight under the pressure of a larger competition and weightlifting fans will be looking forward to the IOIG.