Beauchemin-Madeau: I wish we had a cleaner sport

THE struggle was titanic, the achievements of gold medal winning weightlifter Marie-Eve Beauchemin-Madeau record-setting.

Marie-Eve Beauchemin-Madeau of Canada competes during the Women's 75kg Weightlifting Finals at the SECC. Picture: Getty

Yet, those that have been in the Clyde Auditorium for earlier sessions claimed that the Montreal athlete did not receive the acclaim that might have been expected as six times she reset Commonwealth records. Not even when she ended the afternoon by lifting 140kg in the clean and jerk - after her silver-earning Samoan rival had upped the games record to 134kg - and setting a new overall 250kg total for the combined snatch and clean and jerk.

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It was suggested that the crowd may have been more subdued in responding to the 25-year-old Quebecer’s efforts because of the news earlier in the day that 16-year-old Nigerian 35kg gold medal winner Chika Amalaha had tested positive for a banned substance.

It has cast a pall over a sport that has long been beset by doping - and brought questions over its games future once more. To her credit, Beauchemin-Madeau did not sidestep the issue when asked about the reaction of the crowd to her incredible feats - which, in terms of both goal and record, she said she had set out to attain.

“Drug testing is part of the sport,” she said. “I wish we had a cleaner sport. There are still some countries that feel they can get out of it, and do like this. The main thing is that testing works. We had to get to the point where people are too afraid to take drugs.”