Local competitive weightlifter Naomie Lusignan will make her international competition debut in April when she competes at the Junior Pan American Games in Puerto Rico.
Naomie Lusignan is a 16-year-old from Mansfield and has lived in the Pontiac her whole life. She has been weightlifting since she was 8-years-old.
When Naomi started weightlifting she was originally hesitant about being a female in the sport and quit . . .
for a brief period of time. “I didn’t want to have muscles,” said Naomie. “I was kind of embarrassed about it.”
However after she saw her older brother, Xavier Lusignan, start to excel in the sport, she decided to fully commit to it.
“He’s kind of my idol,” she said. “So when I saw him do lifting, I wanted to go back into it.”
“I think what inspired her to come back to the sport is that she knew that she had the same potential as me to become an elite athlete,” said Xavier, who recently won three gold medals at the Canadian Junior Weightlifting Championships.
Naomie originally started training three days a week, but within the last three years she bumped her regime up to five days a week. This means she has to juggle school, a social life and other commitments with training.
“It’s really hard, but I manage to do it because I really want to go far in this sport,” she said.
The pandemic disrupted Naomie’s training by preventing her from seeing her regular coach in Deep River, Ont. but she compensated for this by working out at her home gym and training with her brother and father.
Naomie‘s father, Sylvain Lusignan, got both of his kids into weightlifting from an early age, so competitive weightlifting is a shared passion in the family.
“I started at 40 and so they started with me,” said Sylvain
Naomie and her brother, both being high level competitive weightlifters, have a relationship that can be competitive at times.
“Sometimes we will compete against each other [during training]”, said Xavier. “We try to get the best out of each other. We push each other to the limit.”
However fundamentally both siblings are very supportive of each other, according to Xavier.
“We have a great dynamic,” he said. “I have her back, she has mine. We’re gonna support each other until the end. If it’s not me competing, well, I focus all my energy into her. And [when I’m competing] I know she’s there for me, she makes sure that I have everything I need. “
“They are driven and that’s how they fell in love with the sport of Olympic weightlifting,” said Sylvain.
Naomie is in the 71 kilogram weight class and at the last competition she competed in, the Junior Ontario Competition, she scored 177 total for her combined snatch and clean and jerk technique. This is 16 points over the standard score expected for her weight class, according to Naomie.
And she says she has significantly improved since then.
This performance qualified her for the Junior Pan American Games starting on April, 2, 2022.
“I’m really pumped about it,” said Naomie. “When I got the news, I literally screamed because I’ve been waiting for this my whole life. It made me want to train harder, eat healthier and sleep earlier.”
“I’m really proud of her because she progressed so quickly”, said Sylvain. “She’s really talented. She’s got a lot of ability for sports, so she learns fast.”
Naomie may already be outpacing her champion brother, who entered his first international competition at 18-years-old.
“People don’t realize that Naomie is already there at 16”, said Slyvain. “You know, she’s just 16. Already she qualified for an international event. That’s big.”
Naomie also doesn’t plan to stop at the Junior Pan American Games.
“I hope I’ll be an Olympic champion one day or just a world champion,” she said. It’s a part of me now. It’s the sport I fell in love with.”
“I’m really proud of what she’s accomplished, ‘’ said Xavier. “But I know that she has bigger things to come so she just has to be patient and let things play out. If she keeps doing what she does, the sky’s the limit for her.
by Brett Thoms
