Twelve years ago, a teenage weightlifter arrived in Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games with big dreams, but left the athletes’ village with an uncertain future and a life-altering decision. On Thursday, that same athlete, Cyrille Tchatchet II, stood on the Commonwealth Games podium in the same city, finally claiming the medal that capped a decades-long journey of struggle, resilience, and reinvention.
Tchatchet II first competed in Glasgow in 2014, finishing fifth in the 85kg weight class. But rather than returning to his home country of Cameroon with his teammates after the competition, he made the difficult choice to flee, a decision rooted in personal circumstances he still chooses not to discuss publicly. What followed was a brutal start to his new life in the United Kingdom: the then-teenager spent two months sleeping rough on the streets of southern England, unsure where his next meal or safe place to rest would come from. In his darkest moments, he even contemplated ending his own life.
“When I left, I didn’t really know what was going to happen,” Tchatchet II recalled in an interview after his 2026 win. “I didn’t know I was going to be homeless, I didn’t know I would go through all the struggles that I went through. I couldn’t think for a second that I would be in Glasgow to win a silver medal.”
He recalled the conversation he had with his mother, Eveline Njike, the day he left the 2014 Commonwealth athletes village: “I told her I didn’t have a place to go and she was very concerned.”
Gradually, Tchatchet II rebuilt his life from the ground up. He was granted official refugee status in 2016, earned a spot representing the International Olympic Committee Refugee Team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and eventually earned eligibility to compete for England at the Commonwealth Games. Off the platform, he trained as a mental health nurse, and now works 10-hour shifts daily at a facility in Oldbury, before heading straight to training for two and a half hours after clocking out. Balancing a full-time nursing career with elite athletics has required enormous sacrifice, he says, but the effort has been worth every moment.
On Thursday, 12 years to the day after he first competed in Glasgow, Tchatchet II delivered one of the strongest performances of his entire career in the men’s 110kg weightlifting event. He lifted a combined total of 374kg across all his attempts, ultimately falling just short of gold to Fiji’s Taniela Tuisuva Rainibogi, who set a new Commonwealth Games record of 378kg to take the top spot on the podium. Even with the narrow defeat, Tchatchet II walked away with a well-earned silver medal, a milestone 12 years in the making.
For the 31-year-old, the win completes a full-circle moment that once felt impossible. “It’s been a full circle for me and I’m very pleased to have finally achieved this dream, which I at some point felt was never going to happen,” he said. “Coming in Glasgow back in 2014, as a teenager, I was full of dreams and uncertainty as well. So, going back to Glasgow, competing and actually winning a silver medal… I’m very, very proud and honoured to have been given this opportunity to represent England.”
Now, Tchatchet II wants his story and his silver medal to stand as a message of hope for anyone facing overwhelming hardship. Working on the frontlines of mental health care, he hopes his journey will inspire others to keep pushing through dark times. “This medal means hope, perseverance and to never give up,” he said. “My story wasn’t straightforward. Despite the hardships we go through, there’s always a possibility. We have to believe in ourselves and keep pushing. The tough times were worth it.”
He added that he is eager to return to work to share his achievement with the colleagues who have supported him through every step of his journey: “I’m really looking forward to going back to work and showing this medal to my colleagues who have supported me throughout.”
The emotional, years-long journey to a Commonwealth medal has left Tchatchet II reflecting on how far he has come, saying: “It took over a decade for me to win this medal, very emotional times.”