Cyrille Tchatchet

Cyrille Tchatchet

Tchatchet in the Olympic Village during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo
Personal information
Nationality	Cameroonian / British
Born	(1995-08-01) 1 August 1995 (age 29) Yaoundé, Cameroon
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Weight	96 kg (212 lb)
Sport
Country	Cameroon  Great Britain
Sport	Weightlifting
Event	-96 kg
Club	Middlesex University weightlifting club
Achievements and titles
Personal best	360 kg
Medal record Men's weightlifting Representing  England Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships 2023 Delhi 96 kg

Cyrille Fagat Tchatchet II^[1] (born 1 August 1995) is a Cameroon-born British weightlifter.^[2][3] He competed in the 85 kg weight category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games for the Cameroon team and finished fifth.^[4]

He took up weightlifting at the age of 14.^[4] He also competed at the British senior weightlifting and under-23 championship 2016 where he was third and first respectively. He won the British, English and BUCS weightlifting championships 2017, 2018 and 2019. In June 2021, he was selected to represent the Refugee Olympic Team in weightlifting.

On the 5th April 2022, Cyrille was cleared by the International Weightlifting Federation to represent British Weight Lifting at international competitions and the England at the Commonwealth Games.^[5] His first international competition as a British weightlifter was the 2022 European Weightlifting Championships in Tirana, Albania.

Early life

Cyrille comes from a family of six children and is the 3rd born. His mother separated with his father in the year 2000 and Cyrille and his siblings were looked after by their mother who is a business woman. He attended Government Bilingual Practising High School in Yaoundé and started studying for a degree in geography at the University of Yaounde before stopping to focus full-time on weightlifting training to prepare for the Commonwealth Games.

Weightlifting career

Cyrille took up weightlifting at the age of 14 after seeing the picture of his cousin's father who was a weightlifter representing Cameroon. He therefore started training at Golden weightlifting club before switching to WOCA weightlifting club.

Personal life

Cyrille moved to the United Kingdom in 2014, after defecting from the Cameroonian team during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.^[6] He spent two months homeless in Brighton, and contemplated suicide before calling the Samaritans, who talked him out of it.^[6]

He obtained refugee status in 2016. He decided to pursue a BSc Mental Health Nursing degree at Middlesex University after experiencing mild depression while claiming asylum,^[7] and now works as a mental health nurse.^[6]

Major results

Year	Venue	Weight	Snatch (kg)				Clean & Jerk (kg)				Total	Rank
			1	2	3	Rank	1	2	3	Rank
Representing  England
Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship
2023	Greater Noida, India	96 kg	150	155	158	2	185	190	192	2	347	1
Representing the  Refugee Olympic Team
Olympic Games
2021	Tokyo, Japan	96 kg	153	155	160	13	190	190	195	10	350	10
Mid-nationality change
British Championships
2022	Derby, United Kingdom	96 kg	145	150	156	1	185	191	191	1	341	1[8]
2021	Held virtually	96 kg	150	155	160	1	180	190	–	1	350	1[9]
2019	Coventry, United Kingdom	102 kg	145	150	161	1	185	195	205	1	356	1
2017	Coventry, United Kingdom	94 kg	145	150	150	1	185	195	200	1	340	1
English Championships
2019	Milton Keynes, United Kingdom	96 kg	141	150	150	1	180	180	190	1	340	1
BUCS Championships
2019	London, United Kingdom	102 kg	150	155	160	1	190	190	200	1	360	1
Representing  Cameroon
Commonwealth Games
2014	Glasgow, Scotland	85 kg	135	135	140	5	175	180	180	5	315	5
African Championships
2013	Casablanca, Morocco	94 kg	120	121	122	5	155	160	160	5	277	5

References

1. "Cyrille Tchatcet II". Olympedia. OLYMadMen. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
2. Binner, Andrew (9 June 2021). "Meet Cyrille Tchatchet II - The refugee weightlifter who went from homeless to British record holder". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
3. "Weightlifting - TCHATCHET II Cyrille". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
4. "Glasgow 2014 – Cyrille Tchatchet II Profile". Glasgow 2014 OC / CGF.
5. Oliver, Brian (13 April 2022). "Olympic refugee weightlifter Tchatchet cleared to compete at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games". Inside the Games. Dunsar Media. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022.
6. "We Dare to Dream review – powerful study of what refugee athletes did at the Olympics". The Guardian. 2 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
7. "Cyrille Tchatchet II: Mental health nursing student and champion weightlifter". Middlesex University. 3 March 2017.
8. "BRITISH SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022" (PDF). britishweightlifting.org. BWF. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
9. "Results 2021 Virtual British Championships" (PDF).

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1139047/opeloge-samoa-commonwealth-weight

External links

• Cyrille Tchatchet at the International Weightlifting Federation
• Cyrille Tchatchet at the International Weightlifting Results Project
• Cyrille Tchatchet at Olympics.com
• Cyrille Tchatchet at Olympedia
• Cyrille Tchatchet at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
• Cyrille Tchatchet at Team England
• Cyrille Tchatchet at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
• Records set at 2019 British Championships