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Valerie Lefevbre interview at iwf.
Marie-France Coallier, The GazetteLefebvre: Reaching Olympics ultimate objective
Luc Lefebvre probably never imagined his two daughters would one day adopt his beloved sport of weightlifting in 2000, when Brossard’s Maryse Turcotte nearly claimed a medal for Canada at the Sydney Olympics as women’s weightlifting made its debut.
That performance captured the imagination of Lefebvre’s younger daughter Audrey, only 8 at the time, and she wanted to start accompanying her father to his training sessions.
Lefebvre’s older daughter, Valérie, had little interest in weightlifting, as she was already in love with equestrian. But parental logistics determined she would be forced to join her younger sister and dad at the weightlifting club.
“I didn’t really want to try it, but I had to go, because my parents didn’t want to get a babysitter for me while my sister went to the club with my father,” Valérie Lefebvre said.
“But eventually, I grew to like it, and then really like it. But it’s really because of my sister that I’m doing this.” Injuries forced Audrey to stop the sport two years ago, but Valérie owes her little sister a great deal of gratitude, because today she is one of the top weightlifters in the world.
Lefebvre, 19, is ranked seventh among the world’s juniors in the 63-kilogram weight class and 25th in the senior rankings. She has won the Canadian junior (20-and-under) championship five straight times and has reached the podium at the senior nationals each of the last five years as well. She also claimed the bronze medal in the clean and jerk at the past two world junior championships, finishing sixth overall both times.
That’s a long way from Lefebvre’s first competition at age 11, the provincial junior championships, where she finished in last place, but still had a great time doing it.
“Back then, I just liked the idea of going out on the platform and that everyone was watching only me,” said the St. Constant resident, who moved to the Montreal area from her native Huntingdon last summer. “But now, I get up there and I don’t see anyone. It’s just me against that bar. That’s what I love.” This is a huge year in Lefebvre’s ultimate objective of reaching the 2012 Olympics in London.
She will be attending her fourth and final world junior championships in Bulgaria in May. After that, she hopes to compete at her first senior world championships or the Commonwealth Games this fall – the two events will be held two weeks apart in Turkey and India. Either one would serve as a huge stepping stone for Lefebvre on her way to London.
The realization of her dream depends on how many Olympic spots Canada can earn in international competition during the next two years, but Lefebvre is not sweating it too much despite being so close.
“If it’s not in 2012, I’ll go in 2016. I’ll still only be 26,” Lefebvre reasoned. “But I’m going to work as hard as I can to make it.
“It’s an exciting time, but there’s not much more I can do to make it happen. It’s two years away, which is a long time, but it’s not at the same time, because it’s not as if I’m going to add 20 kilograms to my lifts between now and then. So for now, I’m focusing on the world juniors because I’m still a junior, and after that we’ll see.”
