Bronze on home soil
Canadian Francis Luna-Grenier wins bronze in weightlifting; Columbian team dominating at first Oshawa event for Pan Am Games
Canadian weightlifter Jessica Ruel yells as she pushes to complete a snatch lift of 81 kilograms, or a little less than 180 pounds. Ruel would finish fifth in the 53-kilogram women’s class.
By Graeme McNaughton/The Oshawa Express
Colombia may be cleaning up at the podium, but weightlifter Francis Luna-Grenier ensured that Canada walked away with at least one Pan Am medal.
Luna-Grenier, competing for the first time in the Pan Am Games, was able to snatch a bronze medal in the 69-kilogram weightlifting class on the second day of competition at the General Motors Centre
Bronze medalist Francis Luna-Grenier pushes to complete a clean and jerk lift of 164 kilograms, or about 360 pounds. He would later top that on his final lift, when he did 167 kilograms.
– temporarily known as the Oshawa Sports Centre.
Speaking with The Oshawa Express prior to officially getting on the podium, Luna-Grenier was initially disappointed with his performance, adding he knows he can do better.
“Overall, there’s some good stuff, some not as good stuff. I’m in shape, the preparation was good, but something was lacking in the warmup. I didn’t feel top notch, like my muscles weren’t working. I wasn’t having a good feeling, but the weights were moving good,”
Columbian weightlifter Rusmeris Villar Barboza embraces her trainer after breaking the Pan Am Games record for the clean and jerk at 115 kilograms. The record-setting lift would clinch her the gold medal in the 53-kilogram women’s class.
Luna-Grenier said after competing his final lift of the competition. “Overall, I’m quite happy with the clean and jerk because I fought my way out with the 167 (kilograms). There’s definitely room for more, I just need to find a way to…get to that next level. It’s frustrating because I had great preparation.”
However, Luna-Grenier’s combined total of 299 kilograms – 132 kilograms in the snatch lift and 167 kilograms in the clean and jerk lift – were good enough for him to make the podium.
He was behind Colombia’s Luis Javier Mosquera Lozano, who set Pan Am records for both the snatch and clean and jerk lifts to secure the gold medal, and Mexico’s Brendi Roque, who had set a Pan Am record for the clean and jerk, only to have it broken by the eventual gold medal winner minutes later.
Luna-Grenier says he has to give credit to his coach for winning the bronze medal.
“Usually I try to put my own rhythm and choose the bars, but I let my coaches decide what would be the lifts in order to have that strategy and win the medal,” he said after receiving his medal in front of a couple hundred fans. “So I’m quite happy that I behaved (and listened to) that strategy in order to win a medal. It’s a great feeling to win a medal at home.”
Personal best
Another Canadian competing the same day may not have made the podium, but she was still very proud of her efforts that day.
Jessica Ruel, like Luna-Grenier, was competing in her first Pan Am Games, lifting in the women’s 53-kilogram class.
Ruel finished in the middle of the pack, placing fifth out of eight competitors.
Despite not making it to the podium, Ruel says she was very proud of her performance, as she was able to establish some personal records.
“I’m very happy because it was my best total,” she told The Oshawa Express after completing her final lift of the day, an unsuccessful attempt at a 98-kilogram clean and jerk. “I’ve been training hard, but it’s been difficult because I also have to go to university. So I’m in school and training. It was difficult for training, but I got a good result.”
Ruel finished the day with a combined total of 177 kilograms, comprised of an 81-kilogram snatch lift and a 96-kilogram clean and jerk lift.
The gold medal for the class went to Colombia’s Rusmeris Villar Barboza, who lifted a combined 199 kilograms, included a Pan-Am-record-setting 115-kilogram clean and jerk.
Earlier in the competition, the Oshawa crowd was stunned in silence when Venezuelan weightlifter Genesis Rodriguez Gomez collapsed after attempting to do a clean and jerk lift of 106 kilograms – more than double her bodyweight. However, she was able to return to competition, complete that lift and even top it with a 109-kilogram lift, helping her secure a silver medal.