The fittest woman in Africa hails from Strand, and in August she will compete in Wisconsin, USA for the ultimate Crossfit title.
Michelle Merand earned the fittest in Africa title last month and is now gearing up for what would be the biggest Crossfit competition in the world and the biggest stage she’s ever had to perform.
She graduated from Hottentots Holland High School in 2007, was captain of the first team hockey, a prefect in matric and finished school in the top 10.
Merand achieved a diploma in sonography after school and then joined a Crossfit gym in 2015 to keep fit and was soon bitten by the “Crossfit bug”.
She did very well in competitions, and obtained first place in The Fittest in Cape Town Crossfit individual women event in 2018.
Merand’s dedication prompted her to resign from the medical field to open her own Fitbox Gym in Durbanville with her fiancé. She competed in the Crossfit open at Coetzenburg last month and was crowned the fittest woman in Africa, qualifying her for participation in the 2022 NOBULL CrossFit Games, which take place at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin in August.
Only one woman and one man and one team get to represent the African continent in Madison, and Merand is one of them.
In an interview with DistrictMail and Helderberg Gazette Merand recalled she wasn’t an overly healthy teenager or young adult.
“I did what most school goers nowadays are doing – drinking too early, partying too hard and smoking cigarettes because I thought I was cool. After school it just became this monotonous repetition every weekend, the same thing, and life just wasn’t getting any more exciting.”
She decided to try and turn things around and make a change, started running and eventually joined a Crossfit gym.
“I jumped at the opportunity for a challenge. And that’s exactly what it was – a challenge. I literally couldn’t do anything, but with great coaching I started to fall in love with the feeling of pushing myself, the feeling one gets when one gets something right for the first time, the feeling of lifting weights one never even thought possible. I felt so strong and independent, as if I mattered and there was more to me than I was showing to the world.
“There is nothing more addictive than adrenaline, that moment before a workout when the coach starts the clock and your heart starts pounding in your ears, your mouth goes dry and for a split second nothing matters. Not your family life, not your future, not all the stupid mistakes you have made, nothing. Now competing amplifies that moment and how, literally one can see oneself become something more each time one reaches a personal goal, with each new friend one makes along the way. Competing doesn’t start with wanting to win, but with wanting to better oneself, and nothing does that more than learning from others around one through experience.”
For Merand, opening FitBox Durbanville in 2018 was the best decision she’d ever made and believed it made her into the person she is today.
“I work alongside my fiancé Simone and together we are building the most amazing relationships with people in the gym helping them get fitter, stronger and providing them a safe space to be themselves always,” she said.
Merand’s highlights include competing alongside some of the best in the world in 2019 at Fittest in Cape Town event, being part of a team that competed in Spain 2017, which was also her first international competition that she also got to do it with Simone, her fiance, and winning the 2022 Fittest in Cape Town event.
“But in all honesty, I think the best is yet to come,” she quipped.
Merand said this year’s competition meant so much more to her as she had gone through a lot of self-doubt, trained very hard and worked on her mental game.
“My family, friends and fiancé have been my biggest fans from day one, and watching how proud I make them has been amazing. They are at every competition, in the stands, they understand the hours of training and have never once made me feel like I’m dreaming too big. To be honest what is happening at the moment is something that I secretly dreamed of for the past number of years.
“The blessings have been raining in and it is completely overwhelming. I am leaving on Saturday (9 July) to actually train with the best athletes in the world at CrossFit Mayhem in Cookeville, Tennessee. This is something we South African athletes have been missing in our training, and I am so fortunate to have this opportunity. It is going to make my CrossFit Games experience that much more rewarding.”
To cover costs to attend the event, the support team has started a backabuddy page and has asked the community to help them realise this dream. For more details see https://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/fittest-in-cape-town
