Rosina Randafiarison

Rosina Randafiarison (born 29 December 1999)^[1] is a weightlifter from Madagascar. She is the silver medalist of 2023 World Championships and the first ever world medalist in any Olympic sport from Madagascar.^[2]

Rosina Randafiarison

Personal information
Birth name	Rosina Randafiarison
Nationality	Malagasy
Born	(1999-12-29) 29 December 1999 (age 24) Majunga, Madagascar
Height	165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Sport
Country	Madagascar
Sport	Weightlifting
Event(s)	45 kg 48 kg 49 kg
Achievements and titles
Personal best	180kg
Medal record Women's weightlifting Representing  Madagascar World Championships 2023 Riyadh 45 kg

Career

Randafiarison took up weightlifting at the age of 15 in her home town of Majunga. Her father encouraged her to start training at a local gym. Later, she moved to Antananarivo for training.^[3]

Her snatch and total lifts at the 2019 African Championship were recognised as Junior Women's African Records.^[4][5]

The last opportunity for Madagascar to ensure the qualification of its weightlifters for the Tokyo Olympics was at the African Championship Zone 3 (South Zone for juniors) event in November 2019. Jean Alex Harinelina Randriamanarivo, the president of the Madagascan weightlifting federation (Fédération Malgache d'Haltérophilie, de musculation et culturisme), identified Randafiarison as a key part of the team.^[5][6] At the 2019 African Games, Randafiarison won the gold.^[7] She won a total of 16 continental and regional gold medals in 2019.^[8]

In September 2023, Randafiarison competed in the women's 45 kg at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships. She won silver medals in the snatch and clean & jerk events, and total, becoming the first medalist for Madagascar in any Olympics discipline at the world championship level.^[9]

Randafiarison secured one of the top ten slots in her weight divisions based on the IWF Olympic Qualification Rankings, and qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics.^[10] In August 2024, she became the third woman to represent Madagascar in weightlifting at the Olympics, following Nathalia Rakotondramanana in 2012 and Elisa Vania Ravololoniaina in 2016,^[3] when she competed in the women's 49 kg event at the Summer Olympics held in Paris, France.^[3][11] She set three African records in the snatch (80 kg), clean & jerk (100 kg), and total (180 kg), finishing in 10th place.^[11][12] She was a flagbearer for Madagascar at the 2024 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations at the start of the games and for the parade of flagbearers at the closing ceremony.^[3][13]

She is coached at the national level by Thomas d'Aquin Rakotoarison.^[3] Madagascar does not have a national weightlifting centre; she trains at a gym in Antananarivo.^[3]

Her husband is Claudio Fanantenana Randrianavalona, who was the 2019 Madagascar champion in snatch, clean and jerk, and overall, and a gold medalist at the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games.^[14][3]

Achievements

Year	Venue	Weight	Snatch (kg)				Clean & jerk (kg)				Total	Rank
			1	2	3	Rank	1	2	3	Rank
Summer Olympics
2024	Paris, France	49 kg	75	80	83	—	95	100	100	—	180	10
World Championships
2019	Pattaya, Thailand	45 kg	65	70	72	5	85	90	90	10	155	8
2022	Bogotá, Colombia	49 kg	71	75	75	29	91	91	91	—	—	—
2023	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	45 kg	70	75	77		93	100	100		170
IWF World Cup
2024	Phuket, Thailand	49 kg	75	75	77	21	95	100	100	18	172	16
African Games
2019	Rabat, Morocco	45 kg	65	70	73		80	85	85		155
African Championships
2016	Yaoundé, Cameroon	48 kg	55	59	62		70	75	75	5	137	4
2017	Vacoas, Mauritius	48 kg	55	60	60		70	75	80		130
2019	Cairo, Egypt	45 kg	60	68	70		80	85	85		150
2021	Nairobi, Kenya	45 kg	55	65	65		70	80	80		135
2024	Ismailia, Egypt	49 kg	70	74	78		90	95	100		169

References

1. "Randafiarison Rosina". iwf.net. IWF. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
2. Oliver, Brian (4 September 2023). "Weightlifter's wild screams greet landmark moment in sport for Madagascar at World Championships". Inside the Games. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
3. "RANDAFIARISON Rosina". Paris 2024. Archived from the original on 30 July 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
4. "Junior Women's African Records Until 29 April 2019" (PDF). wfa.com.ly. Weightlifting Federation of Africa. 29 April 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
5. Rasanda, Serge (27 April 2019). "Haltérophilie – Afrique – Eric et Rosina sacrés champions". L' Express de Madagascar. Archived from the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
6. Rasanda, Serge (13 June 2019). "Haltérophilie – JO 2020 – Cinq essais pour Tokyo". L' Express de Madagascar (Madagascar). Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
7. "Results-Women's 45kg Competition". jar2019.ma. Ministry of Youth and Sports, Morocco. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
8. Pharlin, Soafara (2 January 2020). "Halterophilie: Rosina Randafiarison: J'ai le potential pour me qualifier pour lex Jeux olympiques" [Weightlifting: Rosina Randafiarison: I have the potential to qualify for the Olympic Games]. newsmada.com (in French). Archived from the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
9. Oliver, Brian (4 September 2023). "Riyadh, Day 1: The numbers look good for Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Madagascar". IWF. Archived from the original on 15 April 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
10. "Phuket, Day 2: World records and a sensational finish as Olympic champion Hou ousts China team-mate to claim place in Paris". International Weightlifting Federation. 1 April 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
11. "Weightlifting Results Book" (PDF). 2024 Summer Olympics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
12. "JEUX OLYMPIQUES – Six records d'Afrique dans deux catégories pour Rosina Randafiarison". 2424.mg News & Reports (in French). 8 August 2024. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
13. Braidwood, Jamie (11 August 2024). "Every Olympic flagbearer for Paris 2024 closing ceremony including Alex Yee and Katie Ledecky". The Independent.
14. Raherinjatovo, Donné (31 July 2024). "J.O 2024 - HALTÉROPHILIE - Rosina Randafiarison vient en tant qu'outsider" [Olympic Games 2024 - Weightifting - Rosina Randafiarison comes as an outsider]. L'Express de Madagascar (in French).

External links

• Rosina Randafiarison at the International Weightlifting Federation
• Rosina Randafiarison at the International Weightlifting Results Project
• Rosina Randafiarison at Olympics.com
• Rosina Randafiarison at Olympics.com
• newsmada.com interview (in French)

Olympic Games
Preceded by Mialitiana Clerc Mathieu Neumuller	Flagbearer for  Madagascar Paris 2024 with Fabio Rakotoarimanana	Succeeded by Incumbent