‘Mission accomplished’: tears flow as Aussie wins gold
Joanna Guelas |
Australian weightlifter Eileen Cikamatana struggled through days when she wanted to give up and “be a baby in my mum’s arm”.
But the 26-year-old has found consolation after her Paris Olympics heartbreak, bouncing back in Glasgow to win her third Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Cikamatana was a class above in the women’s 86kg event, nailing a 108kg snatch and a 140kg clean and jerk for a Games record total of 248kg.
England’s silver medallist Madias Ngake lifted a total of 239kg, while Canadian teenager Rose Beaudoin (230kg tootal) took bronze.
In tears after narrowly missing out on a bronze medal when she finished fourth on Olympic debut at Paris 2024, Cikamatana was in tears again in Glasgow – just of a different kind.
“Mission accomplished. I came for one thing and I got that one thing,” Cikamatana beamed.
“I had days that I just wanted to go back home and be a baby with my mum’s arm.
“I had days that I wanted to exit the door, but I’m glad I pulled that left leg back in.
“The original plan was to finish off after the Paris Olympics, but we (with coach Paul Coffa) didn’t get what we wanted.”
Cikamatana is the third female weightlifter in history to achieve the Commonwealth Games feat of three titles in a row, joining India’s Mirabai Chanu (women’s 48kg) and Canadian weightlifter Maude Charron (63kg) after they also won gold in Glasgow.
The 26-year-old has dominated her weightlifting categories since winning gold for Fiji in the 90kg event at the 2018 Gold Coast Games.
Cikamatana then switched allegiance to Australia the following year due to a local dispute with Fiji’s weightlifting governing body, and to keep working with coach Coffa and his wife Lily.
Taking out the 87kg title at the 2022 Birmingham edition, Cikamatana is also the first woman to win Commonwealth Games gold for two countries in an individual sport.
Cikamatana is adamant on making the podium at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but first has pressing matters to attend to.
“I’m going to go have some cake, because I’ve been wanting to have them ever since I got here,” Cikamatana said.
“Cheesecake, obviously. I’m a cheesecake girl.”
Ngake took silver in a remarkable career comeback.
The Cameroon-born English weightlifter was belatedly awarded a bronze medal from the 2012 Olympics after multiple rivals returned positive drugs tests.
But the medal was sent to Cameroon and she has never seen it.
Ngake – fearing persecution in her birth country because of her sexuality – absconded from the Cameroon team during the London Games.
Living homeless in London before working as a cleaner for 10 years, Ngake rekindled her desire to compete after a chance meeting with her former Cameroonian coach during the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The 34-year-old – sporting sparkling red hair that matched her England uniform – threatened to pull off an upset after setting a Games snatch record of 111kg, but fell short of setting a clean-and-jerk benchmark of 135kg.
Cikamtana wins Australia’s third weightlifting medal in Glasgow, with youngster Ollie Saxton emulating his father and four-time Games medallist Andrew by winning bronze in the men’s 94kg event earlier on day six of the Games.
Saxton had logged a total of 336 kilograms, pulling off a 156kg snatch and a 180kg clean-and-jerk lift.
Saxton finished on the podium 40 years after his father Andrew won 100kg sub-heavyweight bronze for England at his debut Games in Edinburgh.
This AAP article was made possible by support from Commonwealth Games Australia.
AAP