Jo Calvino On…Her Experiences at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games
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Jo Calvino on…her experiences at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games November 19, 2014 Our new trustee, British weightlifting legend Jo Calvino, talks to us about her life, career, the state of weightlifting in England and what’s next for her. In this third of a series of five articles, Jo talks to us about her experiences at four Commonwealth Games and missing out the London 2012 Olympic Games. Commonwealth Games – Manchester 2002 Before my first Commonwealth Games, Manchester 2002, all the athletes had received media training but it didn’t prepare us for the emotion of the Opening Ceremony. In hindsight I shouldn’t have gone; it drained me. I was saying to everyone that I was going for a medal rather than just getting the kit. My warm-up was brilliant but I got out on the platform and missed my opening lift – I’ve always been a consistent lifter and had never missed my first one. I said to myself it was just nerves as the place had erupted when I went out. The coach, Dave Sawyer, didn’t know what to say to me because he didn’t know me well enough as a lifter. I thought going to a Senior World Championships would prepare me for the Commonwealth Games and I would be fine, but looking back I wasn’t prepared at all. Keith wasn’t part of the England squad despite coaching 7 out of the 15 lifters. There was a lot of politics around it, some of the hierarchy back then wasn’t fantastic and I was strong enough to speak up which could have affected my position in the sport for selections. I was prepared for the competition but on an international level I was inexperienced. I wasn’t prepared for the interest – there were 2,500 people watching. It was a big event. I used to come out not say anything and walk off. I never showed emotion. Coaches always said I should show emotion but as a teenager I was unsure of myself and didn’t know who I was. I then missed my second lift and that was when I was really panicking. I told Dave I had never done this before. I really needed Keith who knew me and knew what to say. I double-bombed in both disciplines. When I look back I saw that I wasn’t there. My world ended in six minutes and I was devastated. I cried for about two days. I didn’t want to go back to the Athletes’ Village. Back then in weightlifting you could snatch and clean and jerk. I remember walking off of the platform balling my eyes out and walking through the warm-up area with a BBC camera following me and then into the auditorium to find Keith. He was the only person I wanted to see and when I did I burst into tears and said I am really sorry. He was upset too. My Mum told me that they would be other competitions and I lost it with her. I remember sitting in a bar outside of the Athletes’ Village and didn’t want to go back in, but everyone was lovely and professional. The English hurdler Natasha Danvers had fallen at the last hurdle in bronze medal position in the 400m final and we were good friends, so we got over it. I learnt so much more and grew massively after the disappointment of not lifting in Manchester. I’ve got pictures from Manchester and I’ve got one which sums up the whole thing; I’ve missed the lift and got my head in my hands. Someone asked me why it is my favourite picture and I said because that was the turning point. It defined and shaped me. I had to fight to ask to go to the Senior World Championships five months later. World Championships – 2002 I told myself I had to get over it. GB took me to the World Championships and I missed my first lift. I could see the coaches’ faces and then I missed the second. I was ‘bombing’. I took a step back, thought about it. The coach was Dave Sawyer, who knew me from Manchester. He was more understanding and thought it was déjà vu. But then I got the third one. Commonwealth Games – Melbourne 2006 For the next four years following Manchester, officials and everyone else reminded me of my failures. At Lilleshall, where GB Weightlifting were based, the competition platform even reminded me daily – it was the one they used in Manchester so all throughout every national competition I was reminded at every turn. In between Manchester and Melbourne, the 2004 Olympic Games took place in Athens. For Olympic places we have to qualify with points as individuals towards a team and the team then get the places depending where they finish in the World Championships. Great Britain is a significantly small country in the sport of weightlifting and we don’t have enough for a full team and funding is an issue. We might only send three people to a European Championship unlike Russia who might send seven women and therefore get more points. Europe on strength sports is a hard pool because once Russia divided, instead of having two athletes you went against 20 from the resulting countries. It’s definitely harder. In the Olympics you don’t necessarily see all the best lifters because they need enough points as a team, but in the World Championships you do as you get everyone and anyone. For any athlete the pinnacle is that you want to get to an Olympics but ahead of Athens 2004 I wasn’t really enjoying life as a lifter. I forgot about enjoying the sport; I took it way too seriously and focussed too much and there were a lot of politics surrounding the sport which I didn’t really enjoy. One of my fellow athletes sat me down and asked me; ‘when was the last time you enjoyed competing?’ and the worrying thing was that it took me about 20 minutes to answer. I then decided that I would go into my next competition and that whatever happens, happens but I am going to enjoy it. The next three competitions I had back-to-back and I got personal bests in all of them. I started to enjoy lifting again. I remember saying to Keith ‘I am really enjoying myself’. It was like I was out on a daytrip! I was doing my diving coaching at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre and my friend got me a job as a Diving Development Officer with the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) in 2005 (Jo joined Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) in 2011) to do diving development and I found a bit more of a career – I was in a better situation financially. 2005 was a real turning point again, I was enjoying my sport again, and I had got over Manchester and was ready for Melbourne. We went there for a Commonwealth championships test event and that’s where I met my best friend, Erika Yamasaki, now Erika Ropati-Frost, who lifted in the 53kg category at Glasgow 2014. I was her Maid of Honour last year. In Melbourne I was ready to move on, people were saying about what happened in Manchester but it’s the first time I felt like I belonged. I was an athlete. That was the real turning point for me. I remember going out and getting my first lift and having a big sigh of relief and I knew from that point I wouldn’t be getting all the grief that went with it. I was in the mix but came fourth to Erika who got the bronze. I’ve always said if I had to come fourth to anyone I am glad it was her because it was her and in her home country. We had a blast for the next 10 days and got quite significantly drunk for that time. I made a lot of good friends there who I am still friends with now. I qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing but wasn’t picked. Only one lifter was picked and she was injured – maybe it was politics again. I started looking and gearing towards Delhi 2010 with one eye on London 2012. Melbourne was always going to be a challenge following my performance four years earlier as it was the only time I have bombed to date, but Melbourne has been my favourite Commonwealth Games so far, although Glasgow was amazing in different ways. Commonwealth Games – Delhi 2010 On paper every lifter is brilliant, but Delhi went down to tactics. They take your best snatch, the heaviest weight and then the clean and jerk. If you’ve lifted the same weight it will go on body weight. If you have the same weight, which can happen, they will go on who lifted the weights first. If you’ve got them on your second and someone on their third you will get it. I let the nerves get the best of me, but it was a strange environment as when you were lifting there were these moths flying about. Lots of people were saying don’t go to Delhi because of perceived organisational issues but I had trained for four years and wanted to go; all athletes are passionate about their sport and want to go to competitions. I just said to the team before we went out – imagine the worst and expect it but as long as we’ve got beds and food we’re alright.