The realisation of a dream coupled with a top 10 finish at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham was the ultimate bucket-list goal for Strand weightlifter Jon-Antohein Phillips.
He finished his performance in the Men’s 76 kg category with a 118 kg snatch and 162 kg clean & jerk – not by any means his personal best but an overall memorable showing nonetheless.
“I was very nervous on the day leading up to my competition, but once I started warming up I felt at ease and I just wanted to have fun,” said Phillips. “It was amazing to compete against people who do weightlifting full time and have a lot more support. But it was like that didn’t matter because they were just like me, just trying to do their best on the platform. Even though they appear better trained I was able to push them since our numbers were all so close to each other.”
“While I was waiting so many people came up to me asking for a picture with me and asking for my signature. It hit me that even though I was placed 10th, there were people who said they were rooting for me and they loved watching me lift. It felt so surreal.”
He said one thing that he will take from this competition is that it doesn’t matter where one is from and what one doesn’t have, the goal is to remain undeterred in the face of competition.
Asked about being a tourist in the UK, Phillips said that he’d done a lot of travelling and also visited London to see as much as he can while he’s there.
