Chinthana not ready to throw in the towel yet

by Reemus Fernando  

It is 14 years since he first rose to fame winning an unprecedented gold in weightlifting at international level. Chinthana Vidanage who inspired a generation of athletes to take up weightlifting with his Commonwealth Games gold in Australia is not ready to throw in the towel yet.  

Vidanage whose highest international success have been achieved at the Commonwealth Games said in an interview with The Island that his long-term plans run at least until 2022 Commonwealth Games.  

“I have the 2022 Commonwealth Games in my long term plan. I can’t stop the initiatives I have taken without supporting as many as I could to take up this sport,” Vidanage said. 

Vidanage who last enjoyed international success at the 2019 South Asian Games in Nepal was a member of the weightlifting team that competed at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games where he finished fifth. 

“Last year when I established two national records in the 81kg category I proved that I still have the ability to win at Commonwealth Games level. The Covid 19 pandemic has prevented me from accessing my current strength,” said Vidanage who will be 40 when he competes at the 2022 Birmingham Games. 

 “I consider it my responsibility to continue in this sport for as long as I can. Many Olympians have given up on their sport too early. An Olympian has a wealth of experience that he can give back to fellow athletes who are eager to achieve that top level. Take for example Manjula Kumara (high jump national record holder). He competed for many years. An Olympian like Manjula Kumara could have been an inspiration to many had he been here to guide budding athletes. At the time Manjula gave up athletics he was in his mid 30s. The younger generation even today are struggling to accomplish what he achieved nearly a decade ago. It is not totally about winning. It’s about what you can give back to the next generation of athletes for that particular sport to survive,” said the sailor of his contemporary who competed for nearly two decades as the country’s top high jumper.  

Asked whether he has faith in the country’s sports authorities to obtain the knowledge of such Olympians for the betterment of the sport he said: “The Sports Minister himself is a sportsman and I firmly believe that he would take necessary steps to engage the services of veteran sportsmen and help top level athletes who are keen on continuing” 

Commenting on the contribution he has made towards his sport as a veteran he said he was able to inspire many both during competition and training. “If you take top weightlifters who are doing well now I can be happy about the contribution I have made. If you take Indika Dissanayake and Palangasinghe, they all trained with me. You can not only give instructions on techniques when you have young people training with you but also one can help them on how to think like a champion.”    

Asked for his comments on the impact the Covid 19 pandemic had on his training and preparation he said: “I don’t think that the Covid 19 pandemic had a big impact on training of the top level weightlifters. I did not stop training. I trained according to a plan where I could peak at any given time. In my training plan I don’t have an off season. If you relax you cannot achieve your targets. All top level athletes are training as hard as they can. What we greatly missed was competitions. In the economic front there are problems to many who are not coming under Sports Ministry’s supervision.”