Marilou Dozois-Prévost is certainly no stranger to the international weightlifting competition stage.
Having competed in the Beijing Olympics last year, the Commonwealth Games, as well as a few World Weightlifting Championships, she has shown promise into becoming one of the top athletes of her sport.
Training and competing in a few local events back in her native Canada, Prévost is preparing for this year's World Weightlifting Championships in Goyang, South Korea (Nov. 17-29).
Previously, this sensational 23-year-old in action was last seen in action at the '08 Games, placing 10th in the 48kg (105.82 lbs) weight class.
About 14 months later, Prévost has upgraded, so to speak, to the 53kg (116.85 lbs) division.
She is no stranger to the 53kg category, having competed in that series in her two previous ventures at the WWCs in '06 and '07, in which she placed 15th and 26th overall in the Women's 53kg class standings.
Realizing that there is a tremendous hill to climb in her new "old" level, the Montreal native knows that progressive steps are needed to truly succeed in her sport.
Some of the world's technically savvy weightlifters compete in these games, but that hasn't stopped her from focusing on a rather respectable goal.
"I hope to make top-10. This would really make me happy," Prévost said. "The reasons are that it's my first international competition in the 53kg since I moved up a weight class.
"I placed 10th in the Olympic Games, but there are more lifters in a World Championship. And lastly, my best ranking (in this competition) so far was 15th. A top 10 would be great improvement."
Though she realizes victory might not exactly be in her grasps immediately, her goals are realistic and efficient. While the Olympics focuses more on the total count of lifts, the WWCs also consider such aspects like snatch, clean, and jerk.
"My ideal progression would be to place in the top-five next year and win a medal in two years, just before the next Olympics games," she added.
"No matter what happens in Korea, I still have reached my objectives even if they were really hard ones to reach. It leads me to think that I just might be able to reach all my objectives for the next few years!"
When Prévost reflected on her personal gains and progresses since last year's Beijing Games, she asked herself the following question:
What would be my ideal progression from now until the next Olympic Games?
"I've decided (on) the weights that I should be able to lift for every World Championship until then," she confidently states. "For these championships, I decided last year that I should be able to do 85kg at the snatch and 105kg at the clean and jerk."
In order to keep herself focused on her goals, she wrote down those numbers, placing them on a piece of paper on her wall to stay motivated in reaching these expectations.
"(And) I'll do the same for next year!" Prévost precisely predicts.
Realizing that it won't exactly be immediate progression, she knows that such improvement won't result from her waking up one day, finding herself immediately at maximum strength.
So what exactly has Prévost done to prepare for this month's competition in South Korea as well as improve her form?
Simply put, she has gone through rigorous training and implemented a system of good nutrition.
Prévost has seen a nutritionist in recent times to help herself recover quicker in training as well as other events that she has competed in the past few months.
Additionally, she has seen an osteopath and massotherapist to improve her form and conditioning, anticipating her weight class leap in preparation for her ultimate goal: the 2012 London Games.
"I am lucky to have (these) three people, respectively Francine Savard from ProActif Fitness, (as well as) Roberto Bellinfante and Jean-François Thibaulth International around," Prévost says, mentioning that she has been able to train up to 10 times a week with her new approach to training and nutrition.
While she will spend the upcoming days in Korea, what does she look forward to?
As an athlete, she'll be watching the other teams competing as well as rooting on Team Canada to succeed in this competitive event, noting how strong and skilled her teammates are this year.
She maintains that her focus will be on the event, gauging her fellow competitors and her performance in the WWCs to prepare for future meets leading up to 2012.
Still, the tourist in Prévost will be there, curiously exploring her event's location for some of the hot spots and shopping scenes around.
"I will also take some time to visit and look around," Prévost notes. "I love discovering new places."
Noting her passion to compete on the international level, she has somewhat of a preference to be at the Commonwealth Games as a competitor. As a fan, she enjoys the Pan American Games.
Both events bring out some camaraderie and anticipation for Prévost as an athlete and individual.
"Those are like the Olympic Games, held every four years," Prévost astutely points out. "There are athletes from almost every summer sports, as we live in the athletes' village.
It's so fun and exciting to do. I also find they are a more realistic practice for London 2012."
So while the pyramid of success will be about the next biggest challenge for Prévost, she is certainly no stranger to reaching her dreams.
Having won the bronze medal in the '06 Commonwealth Games in the 48kg division, with her hard work, perseverance, and determination, she just might be the dark horse for a medal in a few years in London.
