Early on Saturday, Tamil Nadu weightlifter Sathish Sivalingam won a gold medal in the 77 kg weight class at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, taking India's gold medal tally to three. Sathish was the fifth Indian weightlifter to join India's medals tally.
Sathish had also won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the same weight category, with the 149kg snatch and 179kg clean and jerk lifts, totalling 328kg. His lift of 149kg in snatch continues to be the Games record. At Gold Coast, he had a combined total of 317 kg (144kg + 173 kg).
A native of Vellore, Sathish was trained in his early years by his father Sivalingam, a former weightlifter who won gold medals at the national level.
Sathish started training at a local gym before furthering his training at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala. He dropped out of college in his third year when he got a job in the Railways.
Ahead of the 2014 Glasgow Games, Sathish trained for a while in Birmingham to get acclimatised to the conditions and food. It paid off as he edged out Ravi Katulu and Australia's Francois Etoundi to claim gold, his lift of 149kg in the snatch still a Games record.
Ahead of the Gold Coast event, Sathish wasn't expecting to win a medal, after having injured his thighs.
“I had no hopes of winning a medal after I injured my thighs during the National Championships while attempting 194kg in clean and jerk,” Sathish was quoted by PTI. “It’s a quadriceps problem, even now I am competing at less than ideal fitness but I am glad that was enough to get me a gold.”
“I was in so much pain that even sitting was very painful for me. Everyone took care of me, gave me hope but I was not very confident. I had not trained that hard and my body was not at its best, and so how could I hope for a medal.”
Sathish expects more from himself at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.
“I hope to do even better in the Asian Games because there is a gap now. Earlier Asian Games used to come within 20-25 days of CWG, which didn’t give us enough time to prepare. But this time I have got time to prepare and be fully fit now.”
