Double Commonwealth Games gold medal winner Michaela Breeze has been named as the captain for Team Wales in her final major sporting tournament at next month’s Delhi 2010 Games.
The 31-year-old weightlifter will lead the 175-strong squad in India as the nation competes in 15 of the 17 sports during the 12-day event.
Michaela’s captaincy was officially announced by Welsh Sports Minister Alun Ffred Jones at last night’s Team Wales Send-Off event at the John Lewis store in Cardiff city centre, which was attended by more than 120 of the selected athletes.
Chris Jenkins, Team Wales Chef de Mission and Commonwealth Games Council for Wales Director, said: “Not only is Michaela a great competitor, but she also has an incredible ability to motivate and bring people together.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Related Stories:
Commonwealths: Scotland announces squad for Delhi
Swimming: Randall and Allison return to Commonwealth Games with medals in mind
Paralympics: Woods set to miss Commonwealth Games as she targets World Championships
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
“When she’s not training or in competition she’s busy talking to other athletes whatever their sport. We have every confidence she will make a first-class team captain.”
An accomplished athlete in her own right, Michaela became the first to lift gold for Wales at the 2006 Melbourne Games – an achievement she describes as her proudest sporting moment. She then went on to win a gold and two silvers at the 2002 Games in Manchester and represented Team GB at Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008.
But Delhi 2010 will bring the curtain down on a weightlifting career that has spanned 18 years since she first took up the sport at the age of 13 – and she says leading her country will be the perfect way to end it as she aims to retain her Commonwealth crown in the 63kg event.
Michaela explained how captaining Team Wales in Delhi next month will prove to be the pinnacle of her sporting life: “When I was first asked to be captain I was left totally speechless. It was a very emotional moment and I still get choked up just thinking about it.
“To lead your country at a major international event like this is an amazing honour. I am so proud and for me it will be the ultimate way to finish my career as an international weightlifter.
“The 2010 Commonwealth Games will be the very last time I ever put a weightlifting bar over my head. I have one more shot at a medal and I aim to lead by example while also supporting every other athlete representing Wales in Delhi.”
Up to 8,000 competitors from 71 countries – including the 175 Welsh athletes – will compete in 17 sports in the 2010 Commonwealth Games from October 3-14,.
The tournament is the only multi-sport international event in which Wales competes as a country in its own right, with the country being one of only six nations to have competed in every Games since 1930, winning 215 medals.
Jessica Whittington, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
