Cyrille Tchatchet

Cyrille Tchatchet
OLY
Tchatchet in the Olympic Village during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo
Personal information
Full nameCyrille Fagat Tchatchet II
NationalityCameroonian / British
Born (1995-08-01) 1 August 1995
Yaoundé, Cameroon
Height1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight110 kg (243 lb)
Sport
Country Cameroon
 Great Britain
SportWeightlifting
Event
-96 kg
ClubMiddlesex University weightlifting club
Achievements and titles
10
National finals
1
Personal best374 kg
Medal record
Men's weightlifting
Representing  England
Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships
Gold medal – first place2023 Delhi96 kg
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place2026 Glasgow110 kg

Cyrille Fagat Tchatchet II[1] (born 1 August 1995) is a Cameroon-born British weightlifter.[2][3] He competed in the 85 kg weight category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games for the Cameroon team and finished fifth. Cyrille Fagat Tchatchet II (born 1 August 1995) is a Cameroon-born British weightlifter who competes for England in international competition. He represented the Refugee Olympic Team in weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where he finished tenth in the men's 96 kg category. He later represented England at the 2022 and 2026 Commonwealth Games, winning a silver medal in the men's 110 kg category at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Tchatchet also served as a welfare officer for the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Alongside his sporting career, he works in mental health nursing and has advocated for refugee welfare, athlete welfare and mental health.[4]

He took up weightlifting at the age of 14.[4] He also competed at the British senior weightlifting and under-23 championship 2016 where he was third and first respectively. He won the British, English and BUCS weightlifting championships 2017, 2018 and 2019. In June 2021, he was selected to represent the Refugee Olympic Team in weightlifting.

On the 5th April 2022, Cyrille was cleared by the International Weightlifting Federation to represent British Weight Lifting at international competitions and the England at the Commonwealth Games.[5] His first international competition as a British weightlifter was the 2022 European Weightlifting Championships in Tirana, Albania.

Cyrille was elected to the World Anti Doping Agency Athlete's Council Group 2 for 2025-2027. The election was held virtually via an online voting platform between 10–12 December 2024.[6]

Cyrille is a mental health nurse and an accredited cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and works in a community mental health team in the West Midlands. He trains in the local gym after work.[7]

Early life

Cyrille comes from a family of six children and is the 3rd born. His mother separated with his father in the year 2000 and Cyrille and his siblings were looked after by their mother who is a business woman. He attended Government Bilingual Practising High School in Yaoundé and started studying for a degree in geography at the University of Yaounde before stopping to focus full-time on weightlifting training to prepare for the Commonwealth Games.

Weightlifting career

Cyrille took up weightlifting at the age of 14 after seeing the picture of his cousin's father who was a weightlifter representing Cameroon. He therefore started training at the Golden Weightlifting Club before switching to the WOCA Weightlifting Club.

Personal life

Cyrille moved to the United Kingdom in 2014, after defecting from the Cameroonian team during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.[8] He spent two months homeless in Brighton, and contemplated suicide before calling the Samaritans, who talked him out of it.[8]

He obtained refugee status in 2016. He decided to pursue a BSc Mental Health Nursing degree at Middlesex University after experiencing mild depression while claiming asylum,[9] and now works as a mental health nurse.[8]

Major results

Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank
123Rank123Rank
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
2026 Scotland Glasgow, Scotland 110 kg 158 162 166 2 198 204 208 1 374 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship
2023India Greater Noida, India96 kg1501551582nd place, silver medalist(s)1851901922nd place, silver medalist(s)3471st place, gold medalist(s)
Representing  Great Britain
European Championships
2026Georgia (country) Batumi, Georgia110 kg155155160151952012071136712
Representing the  Refugee Olympic Team
Olympic Games
2021JapanTokyo, Japan96 kg153155160131901901951035010
Mid-nationality change
British Championships
2022United Kingdom Derby, United Kingdom96 kg145150156118519119113411st place, gold medalist(s)[10]
2021Held virtually96 kg1501551601180190–13501st place, gold medalist(s)[11]
2019United Kingdom Coventry, United Kingdom102 kg145150161118519520513561st place, gold medalist(s)
2017United Kingdom Coventry, United Kingdom94 kg145150150118519520013401st place, gold medalist(s)
English Championships
2019United Kingdom Milton Keynes, United Kingdom96 kg141150150118018019013401st place, gold medalist(s)
BUCS Championships
2019United Kingdom London, United Kingdom102 kg150155160119019020013601st place, gold medalist(s)
Representing  Cameroon
Commonwealth Games
2014Scotland Glasgow, Scotland85 kg135135140517518018053155
African Championships
2013Morocco Casablanca, Morocco94 kg120121122515516016052775

References

  1. ↑ "Cyrille Tchatcet II". Olympedia. OLYMadMen. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  2. ↑ Binner, Andrew (9 June 2021). "Meet Cyrille Tchatchet II - The refugee weightlifter who went from homeless to British record holder". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  3. ↑ "Weightlifting - TCHATCHET II Cyrille". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Glasgow 2014 – Cyrille Tchatchet II Profile". Glasgow 2014 OC / CGF.
  5. ↑ Oliver, Brian (13 April 2022). "Olympic refugee weightlifter Tchatchet cleared to compete at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games". Inside the Games. Dunsar Media. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "WADA announces Athlete Council Group 2 elected candidates". World Anti Doping Agency. 17 December 2024.
  7. ↑ "Glasgow, Day 5: Emily Campbell stars on a big day for England – and two more golds for Oceania". International Weightlifting Federation. 30 July 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 "We Dare to Dream review – powerful study of what refugee athletes did at the Olympics". The Guardian. 2 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  9. ↑ "Cyrille Tchatchet II: Mental health nursing student and champion weightlifter". Middlesex University. 3 March 2017.
  10. ↑ "BRITISH SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022" (PDF). britishweightlifting.org. BWF. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  11. ↑ "Results 2021 Virtual British Championships" (PDF).
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