Athula Wijewickrema - a weightlifter par excellence

When weightlifting teams go abroad for championships, they must be accompanied by their coaches as only they will know how to guide their charges in the event they face any problems.

It is they who would be able to instruct and guide them. This does not always happened and it is somebody else who accompanies the team of weightlifters, said former champion weightlifter and national weightlifting coach Athula Wijewickrema.

Though past his fortieth year he is still physically fit and is ready for any weightlifting meet.

Athula Wijewickrema has weightlifting in his blood his late father was a national champion and was the President of the Sri Lanka Weightlifting Federation and was responsible for the revival of weightlifting in Sri Lanka along with his younger brother S A Wijewickrema jnr in the early sixties after the 'iron game' had gone into slumber partly due to lack of enthusiasm.

Wijewickrema jnr himself was one time national coach and President of the Sri Lanka Weightlifting Federation.

Athula's younger Asela too was a national lifter, represented the country at the Asian and Olympic Games and is now domiciled in 'Old Blighty'. It is from this weightlifting background that Athula came into the scene.

Athula Wijewickrema started weightlifting at the age of 10, training at Kandy YMCA and was an old boy of Kingswood College and by 1980 at the age of 12 had won his first title at the Junior National Championship competing in the under 13 weight category and was also adjudged the best lifter.

In 1984 he went for the Junior World Championship held in Scotland and was placed 11th in the under 56 kg category.

In 1985 as a 17 year old he won a gold and was also adjudged as the Best at the Senior National Weightlifting Championship.

At the same championship in 1987 and 1988 he not only won his class but also was adjudged as the Best Lifter.

He continued to perform well at the Friendship Games held in Russia in 1986, he was placed 8th in the 60 kg category.

He was placed fourth at the first SAF Games held in 1987 in the 60 kg category. At the 1988 Asian Games held in China he was placed 9th in the 67 kg category. At the 1991 SAF Games held in Colombo, he won a bronze medal in the 75 kg category.

He participated in several international meets in the year 1992 though performing well could not win a medal.

In 1995 at the SAF Games held in Madras he won a bronze medal in the 83 kg category. He repeated this success in Nepal in 1999.

He was placed fifth in the 85 kg category at the Asian Inter City Champion- ship held in India.

For sometime he did not take weightlifting seriously after he was not selected for the Olympic Games. At the age of 36 he retired from the sports as a lifter.

He has set up over 40 national weightlifting records and seven times had won golds in clean and jerk, snatch and the total at the national weightlifting championship.

He was the national weightlifting coach in the years 2003 and 2004 and during his coaching career has produced over fifty national weightlifters. Even Chinthana Withanage trained under him before going for the Commonwealth Games.

As a coach he is targetting to produce a lifter who could win a medal at the Olympic Games.

He lamented that when compared to other sports the weightlifters are the poor country cousins as most of them do not have sponsors and could hardly afford the supplementary food which is required to build up strength and power.

In some instances they will have to find their own money to meet the expenses incurred in participating in foreign meets. They should be all looked after by the State as this is one sport in which Sri Lanka could perform well at international competitions.

-SMJA