Rosina Randafiarison (born 29 December 1999) is a

weightlifter Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

from

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. She is the silver medalist of 2023 World Championships and the first ever world medalist in any Olympic sport from Madagascar.

Career

Randafiarison took up weightlifting at the age of 15 in her home town of

Majunga Mahajangā (French: Majunga) is a city and an administrative district on the northwest coast of Madagascar. The city of Mahajanga (Mahajanga I) is the capital of the Boeny Region. The district (identical to the city) had a population of 258,068 ...

. Her father encouraged her to start training at a local gym. Later, she moved to Antananarivo for training. Her snatch and total lifts at the 2019 African Championship were recognised as Junior Women's African Records. The last opportunity for Madagascar to ensure the qualification of its weightlifters for the Tokyo Olympics was at the African Championship Zone 3 (South Zone for juniors) event in November 2019. Jean Alex Harinelina Randriamanarivo, the president of the Madagascan weightlifting federation (Fédération Malgache d'Haltérophilie, de musculation et culturisme), identified Randafiarison as a key part of the team. At the

2019 African Games The 12th African Games (), also known as Rabat 2019 (), were held from 19 to 31 August 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. This was the first time that the African Games were hosted by Morocco following the country's readmission to the African Union in Janua ...

, Randafiarison won the gold. She won a total of 16 continental and regional gold medals in 2019. In September 2023, Randafiarison competed in the women's 45 kg at the

2023 World Weightlifting Championships The 2023 World Weightlifting Championships was a weightlifting competition held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 4 to 17 September 2023. The event served as a mandatory event to qualify for the weightlifting at the 2024 Summer Olympics, 2024 Summer ...

. She won silver medals in the snatch and clean & jerk events, and total, becoming the first medalist for Madagascar in any Olympics discipline at the world championship level. Randafiarison secured one of the top ten slots in her weight divisions based on the IWF Olympic Qualification Rankings, and qualified for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. In August 2024, she became the third woman to represent Madagascar in weightlifting at the Olympics, following Nathalia Rakotondramanana in 2012 and Elisa Vania Ravololoniaina in 2016, when she competed in the women's 49kg event at the Summer Olympics held in Paris, France. She set three African records in the snatch (80 kg), clean & jerk (100 kg), and total (180 kg), finishing in 10th place. She was a flagbearer for Madagascar at the

2024 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations The 2024 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations within the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony took place on 26 July 2024 on the Seine river in Paris, France. Athletes and officials from each participating team marched into the Jardins du Trocadé ...

at the start of the games and for the parade of flagbearers at the

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

. She is coached at the national level by Thomas d'Aquin Rakotoarison. Madagascar does not have a national weightlifting centre; she trains at a gym in Antananarivo. Her husband is Claudio Fanantenana Randrianavalona, who was the 2019 Madagascar champion in snatch, clean and jerk, and overall, and a gold medalist at the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games.

Achievements

References

External links

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newsmada.com interview
(in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Randafiarison, Rosina 1999 births Living people Malagasy female weightlifters African Games gold medalists in weightlifting African Games gold medalists for Madagascar Weightlifters at the 2019 African Games African Weightlifting Championships medalists 21st-century Malagasy people World Weightlifting Championships medalists Weightlifters at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic weightlifters for Madagascar People from Boeny