Just days before the Central American and Caribbean Games, Ketlene Primot is getting ready to represent Haiti with a clear goal: to make it onto the podium.
Just a few days before the Central American and Caribbean Games, Ketlene Primot is getting ready to represent Haiti with a clear goal: to make it onto the podium. Based in the Dominican Republic, where she has been training for several years, the Haitian weightlifter dreams of turning her daily sacrifices into a medal for her country.
At 22, when she discovered the sport—or rather, in her words, when she was “discovered” by her coach—nothing really predicted she would go into weightlifting. It was her sister who first caught the coach’s attention. “My coach saw my sister’s potential, and I decided to join her. That’s how it all started,” she says. Today, she has been practicing this sport at the national and international level for ten years.The turning point happened during her first international competition, held in the Dominican Republic at a Pan-American Championship. The experience left a deep mark on her. “Fue tan linda la experiencia que dije, tengo que volver a sentir esa experiencia única” (“The experience was so beautiful that I told myself: I have to feel that unique moment again”), she confides.
Like the entire Haitian weightlifting team, Ketlene lives and trains in the Dominican Republic. While the facilities allow her to improve every day, her daily life is still marked by the precariousness linked to her status as a migrant.
“Living in the Dominican Republic means facing the challenges of immigrant life every day. You always have to stay alert to avoid being deported,” she explains. Despite these difficulties, she believes that training in a specialized center gives her the chance to keep developing as an athlete.
On the sports side, Ketlene admits that her last participation in the Central American and Caribbean Games didn’t go as she had hoped. She feels she didn’t show her full potential. On the other hand, she has great memories of the qualifying rounds for that same competition, which she considers the best performance of her career.For this new edition, the preparation was carried out with maximum intensity. ‘Intensity? 100 out of 100,’ she sums up with a smile. As the competition approaches, anxiety mixes with strong determination. ‘The closer the competition gets, the more anxious and ambitious I become,’ she admits. While she acknowledges still lacking experience against some opponents in her category, her goal remains the same: to win a medal.
Wearing the national jersey is an endless source of motivation for her. ‘Representing Haiti is a huge honor and immense pride. At every competition, I carry with me the strength, history, and hope of an entire people. Haiti is not just my flag, it’s what drives me to give it my all.’
