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Not one but Two weightlifters representing Malta at European Championships
You read that correctly y’all. Not one but two Maltese weightlifters, who happen to be female, will be competing at the European Championships next week. After over a year of COVID-19 related delays and postponements, Tenishia Thornton and Yasmin Zammit Stevens will be competing with the Malta Weightlifting Association, at the Olympic qualification event.
The impressively talented athletes will be accompanied by Jesmond Caruana, the national team coach, at the championships, which is the first major weightlifting event to be organised since the pandemic struck in 2020. What’s more, this is the first time that the MWA has two female athletes competing at the European Championships, with Thornton being the youngest Maltese athlete to participate. Ever.
Who is Tenishia Thornton?
Tenishia, a 15-year-old Żejtun resident has won countless medals, trophies and other accolades at a tender age and was the first Maltese weightlifter to reach Platinum level in the Malta Weightlifting Association’s ranking. The daughter of accomplished rower and CrossFit athlete Dennis Thornton, Tenishia says she grew up used to her father’s strict fitness regimen. The curiosity and desire to lift weights was always present in her life.
Tenishia has previously practiced gymnastics and dance, where the goal was more geared towards flexibility. Weightlifting, on the other hand, calls on athletes to use more speed and power.
Who is Yazmin Zammit Stevens?
Yazmin, the 27-year-old weightlifter, has been breaking records for years now. Not only is she a triple Mediterranean Games bronze medalist, but she was the first woman to compete in the European Championships, and even qualified for the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast. In a nutshell, she has broken over 150 national records in the last five years.
It’s undoubtedly been a tough few weeks for the athletes, who were displaced from their usual training regimes, following the implementation of a fresh set of COVID-19 restictions measures. Both Yasmin and Tenishia will leave Malta next week, on the 29 March under strict protocols and guidelines, which were set out by the weightlifting association.
The European Championships will take place from 3-11 April, with a full timetable with dates and times to be released soon.
