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Kyle Bruce started lifting weights to help his rugby and now it’s taken him to the Paris Olympics

 

Kyle Bruce started lifting weights to help his rugby and now it’s taken him to the Paris Olympics

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Kyle Bruce

Weightlifter Kyle Bruce started lifting to steel his body for rugby but a chance meeting with an Iranian Olympian, who’d sought asylum in Australia, put him on a path to the Paris Games.

As a member of the Randwick Rugby Union Club’s Colts team, Kyle rose through the junior ranks to represent Sydney against Country and gain selection in a Waratahs Merit squad.

However, advice from a coaching staff member in 2015 changed everything. Sadly, it coincided with the death of Kyle’s father, Brian, a rugby aficionado who instilled his passion for the game in his son.

“I was advised to do weights to be more forceful in the ruck,” said Kyle, who will wear Brian’s compression shirt under his Australian Olympic Team singlet as a tribute when he competes in the Men’s 89kg class on 9 August.

“We trained for rugby four days a week, so I went to the Blacktown PCYC on my days off to do weights. I met Ali Azari who represented Iran at the 1992 Olympics, and he became my coach.

“After my second session Ali said I had the ability to become an Olympian. However, he said if I wanted to do that, I had to give weightlifting everything.

“You might think giving up rugby was tough because I’d invested so much into it, but it made sense for me to leave.”

While Kyle played with heart and grit, he’d lost his passion for rugby because it didn’t feel the same without Brian. Indeed, each game day and training session reminded him of his loss.

“Dad passed away nine months before I started lifting weights,” Kyle said.

“And playing rugby without him was tough because it was our thing. We’d go to games together, dad watched me practice and play. There was a void, and footy didn’t feel the same.

“I woke up one morning and thought ‘no more.’ And that was it. Weightlifting provided me with the opportunity for a fresh start, but it also helped me get through the grieving process. I have a lot to be grateful to Ali and weightlifting for.”

Azari, who was a national hero in Iran and had his powerful feats sponsored by the country’s regime, was sent to Christmas Island Detention Centre from 2000-2002 after arriving in Australia. 

 

Upon being granted asylum - and in between working shifts at a chicken factory and driving rideshare cars - Azari threw himself into coaching local weightlifters, hoping to make a positive contribution to his new homeland.

“He started from scratch,” said Kyle, who’s studying a Bachelor of Primary School Teaching.

“But he always says Australia is the land of freedom, a beautiful country – and he’s right.

“He’s happy giving back to Australia through coaching athletes such as myself. He’s a truly great man. I consider him to be like a father. I go to his home, sit on his Persian rug, drink tea, and we talk.

“I give all credit to Ali. The first few years of my training with him was very intense, arguably harder than what it is now. I started at 16, which in Australian weightlifting is quite young, because most people start at 20.

“But in Eastern European countries it’s 10, 11, 12, so in that regard we had a lot of ground to make up. I’d go to the gym at 5.30am and train until 7am. I’d hit school and return to the gym from 5pm until 8.30pm. I’d go straight to bed and repeat the process the following day.

“It was like that for three years, but from the start Ali said if you want to achieve anything in weightlifting you make sacrifices. That’s why I give all credit to him. He instilled skills and lessons I apply to my life every day.”

Daniel Lane

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