The name of Jesmond Caruana is synonymous with Maltese weightlifting.
As all major sport disciplines weightlifting has been affected grievously.
Promising athletes like Yasmeen Zammit Stevens, and the young Tenisha Thornton have seen their hard work and dreams evaporate in just a couple of days due to the unexpected outbreak of COVID-19.
Caruana got involved in weightlifting in 1980. A year later he joined the Malta Amateur Weightlifting Association, participating in several national and international competitions.
His best exploits remain the 2nd place achieved in May 2004 at the Small States of Europe Games, and 4th placing in the 69kg category at the Commonwealth Games in June 2004.
As an administrator he occupied the post of treasurer of the Malta Weightlifting Association from October 2003 to September 2008 and General Secretary from October 2008 to September 2009.
Elected as President of the Association in October 2009.
TMI conducted an online interview with Jesmond about the unexpected times the world is going through, how weightlifting has also been hit and how the sport has bounced to a very satisfactory level on the international scene.
Q: As you know unexpected times have hindered all sport in general. What is your view about all what is happening and how in particular was weightlifting (and all its' athletes) hindered by all this?
A: COVID-19 has had a bad impact on the sporting calendar everywhere, suspending activity to limit the spread of the virus - including the Olympic Games due this summer. The Games are typically one of the world's most watched sporting event, and as you know it was announced that they have been pushed back a year.
Weightlifting is not an exception and has had negative effect on all our athletes. A group of our athletes were preparing and training hard to compete in important international competitions but unfortunately their plans were all put on hold after all events were postponed or cancelled. In Mid-March, one of our youngest top athletes Tenishia Thorton, was nearing her conclusive preparations for the World Junior Championships in Bucharest and she was also part of the team to compete in European Small nations in Limassol together with Yasmin Zammit Stevens, Shaun Ciantar, Anton Micallef and Rylee Borg. Another competition that was cancelled in March was the Soroksar Cup in Budapest and effected all preparation for athletes Rodmar Pulis, Matthew Camilleri, Tristan Zammit and Mariah Bugeja.
Zammit Stevens saw all her hard work fade away when two important competitions and qualification events for Tokyo 2020 were postponed from April to unknown dates; the European Championships in Moscow and Commonwealth Championships in Nauru were she was going to compete together with Tenishia Thornton.
It's not just about preparing physically. These athletes were under a lot of pressure and doing their best to prepare even mentally for these upcoming competitions. Now they might feel slightly demotivated. Preparation of high level competitions require a lot of commitment and when we come to a situation like this it will not only effect their physical ability but also affect the athletes mentally.
After the closure of domestic training clubs, the MWA lent equipment to most of our athletes to continue their training sessions at homes/garages. Furthermore, to keep athletes motivated the association is organizing an online competition in mid May where the athletes will be competing through live streams from their home gym.
Most of our young athletes were affected too. There are some that have enough knowledge and experience to be able to train at home with their personal coach online. However, the less experienced ones who have limited technique can only indulge in some light training.
I also still coach athletes, one at a time in my garage with each athlete using their own equipment and keeping into consideration the requested social distance.
Q: In your view what period of time does a weightlifting athlete need in order to recover after this period?
A: Athletes that kept on with their training will have a minimum effect. In no way am I saying it will be easy. Even if the athletes are training from their homes, it is completely different from our normal scenario as a group motivating each other.
This is how high level athletes will be affected, as these require many competitions to continue growing in their sport and to succeed. We have also had to cancel international training camps which is a key factor for our athletes to learn from the best and grow as competitive athletes.
Next June we had to organize the European Union Championships in Malta, this competition is meant for young athletes, postponed to a further unknown date.
The worst of all this is that we don't know when all this will get back to normality, The situation in Malta as we can see, is controlled very well but many international countries have bigger problems than ours and it is unclear to say when group competition will start again.
Q: What are your most memorable moments in your career since you have become involved in this sport and how do you see it developing?
A: I had many memorable moments in my career as an athlete, coach, technical official and administrator.
I am proud that from a young age I chose weightlifting as a sport. International competition opportunities during that time were very limited, but I enjoyed my time and learning more about the sport from the late Charles Mifsud, the founder of weightlifting in Malta.
As a coach I understand the sacrifices the athletes have to make and it gives me great satisfaction to see them succeed. Especially when we compete in high level competitions like, European, World, Commonwealth and Olympic Games and we manage to bring good results for our country. I love my country and it is always a great satisfaction to put Malta on the map of international weightlifting. The best moments I have being a technical official was that of being selected to referee in the World and Olympic games.
As an administrator it is always a great satisfaction to see your work appreciated, not only on the domestic front, but also internationally.
I have been elected as President of European Union Weightlifting, Vice President of both the Commonwealth and Mediterranean Games, General Secretary of European Small States and Committee member of European Technical and Scientific Committee. These are all memorable moments to treasure.
But if I had to choose my most memorable moment in sport, it surely was this year when together with my team, we managed to organize a first-ever Olympic qualification event here in Malta. With this we made history as no sport organization in Malta has ever organised a direct qualification event related to the Olympic Games. This took a very long time of preparation as this competition was the highest possible level (Silver Level) the highest at European and global level. In this competition 25 countries came up with their best team, all of them with high hopes to qualify for the games. Never less this competition was also effected with Corona Virus as some courtiers dropped from competing most of them having connection flights via Italy.
I have been at the helm of the Association for the last ten years and a lot of work was done - from the structural improvement of the sport to investing in having more qualified coaches. We have also seen a great increase in the number of technical officials including a good number of women. We have better more equipped facilities as well as a higher level of competitions. Over the years we have seen an increase in the number of athletes especially young ones, and also a lot more women taking part in our sport. More important, we have athletes at higher levels than ever before where we can compete at European and global level; achieving good results and getting selected for Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, Commonwealth and Mediterranean games. I can see that weightlifting has a very nice future ahead. With better motivated administrators and a very good number of young talented athletes the future looks bright for the MWA.
Despite the big risk, Sports is yearning so much for a comeback. Fans all over the world are clamoring for something, even anything to distract from the pandemic and restore sports to its' normal rhythm. When will this happen, we really do not know!