Interview with the weightlifter Michaela Breeze

Description

MICHAELA BREEZE
a weightlifter’s tale

I was born in Watford on 17 May 1979. I lived there for the first nine years of my life until I moved to Cornwall with my mother. I then came to Cardiff University and studied at UWIC for four years. My father is Welsh and was brought up in Llanidloes in mid Wales, and that’s where my Welsh heritage comes from.

Teaching is my profession and I’m currently coaching, too. I coach youngsters in weightlifting and a variety of other sports. I also head up the Talented and Gifted Programme where I support some of our youngsters to fulfil their potential on the sporting field.

I’d always been enthusiastic and quite athletic. My father was a PE teacher so I was provided with a lot of opportunities when I was young; I took part in most sports. My father wanted me to do athletics and basketball, they were his forte; my mum wanted me to do hockey and netball, and, if I’m completely honest, when my parents separated, I went through a bit of a rebellious stage and decided to do something that I chose, and, for that reason, I ended up doing tai kwan do and weightlifting.

I started weightlifting when I was thirteen. I was doing athletics, I was doing basketball, I was doing everything, and it was just about trying to become more powerful so I could run faster, jump further, throw further. At the age of fourteen or fifteen, I had to make a decision whether to pursue the athletics or whether to switch to weightlifting. And I chose weightlifting.

under a welsh wing

Everything in weightlifting is about Great Britain. It wasn’t until I moved to university here in Cardiff that women’s weightlifting was integrated into the Commonwealth Games. That was when I had to make another decision and, okay, I was born in England but I’m half Welsh and I was studying at a university in Wales and, at that time, I was supported via Elite Cymru.

Wales took me under its wing and said, “We believe in you, and we’re going to support you and guide you in the right direction”. Without a doubt, it’s that support that has enabled me to go on and to achieve. There was no decision to make: it was Commonwealth Games and it was Wales.

Wales has a strong tradition in weightlifting. It’s a sport in which Wales wins medals, particularly at the Commonwealths. I was fortunate enough to compete with Dave Morgan in Manchester in his final competition. I think he came back from retirement for that. I can tell you that I’m not coming out of retirement; that is not going to happen. David passed the baton on to me, I guess, and I’d like to think I’ve done Wales as proud as I possibly could, and now it’s time for somebody else to take over.

pinnacles and pains

Melbourne Commonwealth Games (2006) was one of my biggest achievements, not so much for the gold medal but the 100 kilo snatch just after regaining full fitness. I’d had knee surgery six months before. I was favourite on paper but nobody knew what I had gone through, and to come back and regain fitness literally a week before, then to go out and snatch a personal best – the magic 100! – and to win the gold medal for Wales, fantastic. That has to be the pinnacle, I think.

Most people wanted me to stop back in 2000 when I had the stress fracture of my lower back. That put me out of the sport for about eighteen months. I had the option of undergoing surgery to get fixed up quick or working on my functional stability, my functional control, which is what I’ve been doing. We managed to stabilise my back so I could continue training and competing. When it came to the Beijing Olympics, the qualification wasn’t quite as straight-forward as we’d hoped. I had to be top ten in the world rankings to qualify outright but I was ranked thirteenth. I hadn’t made it, so I backed off the training and, as a result, I lost a little bit of fitness. Then, the phone call came to say I was in, and, quite simply, I wasn’t ready. I only found out about six weeks before I was due to fly out. So, I went to the gym, pushed the training too hard too quickly, and my back flared up. The pain was excruciating and I was struggling before I went out. We had to make a decision: do I stay or do I go? It was a tough call but there was nobody to replace me if I’d have pulled out; there wouldn’t have been British representation in the weightlifting. That’s why I went. It’s an Olympic Games; pain’s irrelevant.

The Delhi Commonwealth Games were different, unique. It was an experience that I’m glad I went through; it’s an experience that I wouldn’t like to relive. When I was first asked to be Team Wales captain, I was left totally speechless. To lead your country at a major event like this is an amazing honour. It was the ultimate way to finish my career as an international weightlifter, the very last time I will ever put a weightlifting bar over my head.

diabolical

Weightlifting is a male-dominated minority sport which receives very little media attention. It’s very difficult to attract any kind of sponsorship. I came into the sport because I’m passionate about what I do and because I had goals. I had ambitions to go to an Olympics, to compete in a Commonwealth Games, so, with or without financial support, I would have gone on and pursued my dreams. I was very fortunate when I was at university that Elite Cymru took me under their wing and offered their support in terms of physio cover, medical cover; any other support that I needed, it was there.

I medalled at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, won medals at the Europeans. Then, they brought in this Podium Funding through UK Sport and I was lucky enough to be a funded athlete up until 2008. It wasn’t masses but it enabled me to focus more on my training and not to have to worry about working so much, although I had been employed since 2001 as a teacher.

I think funding for most sports is still a little bit backwards in the way it’s administered; they wait for athletes to achieve something before they’ll offer the support. In weightlifting, the funding is diabolical. If weightlifting had a medal at the Olympic Games, we’d be funded fantastically well. I think more investment needs to be at grass roots level, at the foundations to bring people through. At the moment, there are no foundations in weightlifting.

But life is too short to complain. My attitude is, “Whatever is thrown at you as an athlete, deal with it”. There’s ups and downs, there’s politics, there’s people in places you don’t want to be there; there’s been people in places all throughout my career that have hampered me, that have tried to hold me back, that have been jealous of what I have achieved, that have been general pains in the backside, and I’m sure that, without them, I would have gone on to bigger and better things but, at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can do about it.

The message I would give to any athlete is, “Just get on with it. No excuses. Deal with it and be the best you can be”.

time to call it a day

I retired from weightlifting after the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010, and I was quite aware that there was going to be a bit of a void in my life. I started when I was thirteen, and I’ve been training, literally, for the last eighteen years; the only breaks I’ve had have been forced through injury. I had virtually no holidays in the first sixteen years; and, to be honest, my body has taken such a pounding that I can’t cope any more. It was probably time to retire after Beijing, but mentally, now, I’m ready. It’s time to call it a day and pass the baton on to somebody else.

There are a lot of people that dream, that want to go on to achieve big things; there’s very few of us who have the talent, the opportunity, the potential and the support to do it.

If I was describing myself as an athlete, before I retired: committed, motivated, I want to say selfish, but more focused. I’ve had to be very narrow-minded in my approach, to achieve what I have done.