The good old days, the glory days… Marie-Ange Wirtz-Woodcock ‘I am glad I took that first step at that time’ |22 March 2022
Marie-Ange with some of her medals and cups won
Local track and field athletics has over the years produced some of Seychelles’ finest female athletes and one of them is Marie-Ange Wirtz-Woodcock.
The former sprinter and long jumper was Seychelles’ third female athlete to compete at the Olympic Games in 1984 after Margaret Morel and Bessie de Létourdie made the first Seychelles team to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union.
A name many of our young athletes might not have heard of, Marie-Angehas volunteered to feature in today’s fortnightly series aimed at reviving memories of achievements and honouring former Seychellois greats who have become coaches, administrators or are just living a simple life away from their once loved sport.
Debut in athletics
Marie-Angestarted doing athletics at the very early age of nine, when she was in primary 3 at the then Ste Theresa’s school. During that time school championships were on a very small scale. Very few students were chosen to participate, and as far as she could remember, the championships took place at the Gordon Square now Freedom Square.
At that time, all kids ran barefoot and among the most exciting races for children of that age group were egg and spoon, sack race, and two-legged race.
“I remember being chosen to take part in the two-legged race where one of your leg is tied to that of your partner, but this could be very challenging as both persons have to be running at the same speed otherwise there’s bound to be disaster. And that’s what happened to me in my first competition. I was running faster than my partner and we both fell and got disqualified….and I ended up with a broken toe nail. So we didn’t progress to the finals,” Marie-Ange recounted.
Marie-Ange added that her parents used to live way up at Curio Road (in Bel Air) and she and her sisters used to run from home to school every day, so this kept them all very fit.
“We were a big family of 10 children including big brother and famous singer John Wirtz, and as the ninth child I had to keep running after my older sisters to get to school on time every day. There was no bus at that time, even if there would have been a lorry to serve people in my vicinity….how would it get to our house…, there were only foot paths. The few lorries were used by the children who lived further like in Bel Ombre, Beau Vallon, Glacis. At that time children living in north Mahé came to the few main schools in town as there were no schools in the north.
“Life was hard at that time, but no one complained, and we made the best of it with God’s grace, and we really enjoyed our life to the fullest. A good one-hour run every morning with hardly anything on your chest,” she added.
It was when she got to P6 (around 12 years old) that she was chosen again to take part in the yearly schools athletics competition and she did pretty well in the sprint category. It was then that she started getting some recognition for her talent.
From secondary schools beyond her school years to form five, she took part in all schools competitions, competing in high jump, long jump and sprinting. Two of her sisters ‒ Jennita and Anne-Marie ‒ were very good long and middle-distance runners. They used to run alongside Margaret Morel whom Marie-Ange described as a ‘manrmay dan kanton’ ‒ friend.
“When I was in secondary school, my sister Jennita was at that time at the Teacher Training College (TTC) and she started motivating and encouraging young women/girls in the town districts, particularly St Louis, Bel Air, Le Niol, to participate in sports. At that time, I remember there were sports clubs ‒ Rovers and Rangers ‒ and my sister and her other school friends were members of the Rangers hockey team, and it was a wonderful experience, especially when the big giants, Rangers and Rovers competed against each other. Everyone in the club would come and cheer and support. I would say that was a very good way to spot talents and good sportsmen. At a time when there was no television, no PlayStation, no tablet, no mobile phones, life was just simple and awesome,” said Marie-Ange.
Marie-Ange the hockey player
Marie-Ange joined the newly-formed Bel Air hockey team at the age of 15 and it was her sister Jennita who formed the team, and encouraged her younger siblings to join.
Marie-Ange played as a midfielder while Jeanine, the 10th and last child of the family, was the scorer and scored almost all of the team’s goals.
Unfortunately for Jeanine, who only played hockey and participated in a regional championship in Reunion, she injured her knee during a match and had to have surgery with metal inserted in her knee. She had to stop doing sport at an early age.
“We had some great matches against St Louis, Mont Fleuri, Anse Aux Pins and Beau Vallon at that time,” added Marie-Ange.
Marie-Ange at the First IOIG in Reunion
With words going round in 1978 that a first Indian Ocean Islands Games were to take place in Reunion in 1979, Seychelles acquired the services of a Russian coach ‒ Evans Dubograev ‒ seven months prior to the event to train the athletics team in order to have a good selection.
“I got selected as one of the youngest participants, and started training for the games. It was a chance that couldn’t be missed. We did very intense and tough training, three or four times a week, sometimes starting from 6pm to 8pm. It was there and then that I got my first spikes shoes. We had a bus that took all of us home after training and since we had to go to Anse Boileau first to drop the athletes, we got home as late as 10pm. It was a huge sacrifice, but mind you, we were up early the following day to go to school … this time walking from Bel Air to Mont Fleuri, as three of us sisters were following school at Mont Fleuri ‒ TTC, Regina Mundi Convent and Senior Secondary School,” said Marie-Ange
Aged 16, Marie-Ange took part in the 100m, 200m, long jump and the two relays ‒ 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m. She won a bronze medal in both relays alongside Marie-Anne César, Linda Bastienne and Bessie de Létourdie (4 x 100m) and Marie-Anne César, Margaret Morel and Bessie de Létourdie (4 x 400m).
“Despite our strength, Reunion and Madagascar were stronger than us… but I must say, we did grab some medals and break some national records,” said Marie-Ange.
Six years later (in 1985) at the second IOIG in Mauritius, Marie-Ange won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100m relay with Marie-Anne Williams, Dorothy Isidore and Peggy Siméon as teammates.
Marie-Ange at the IAAF World Championships
She then took part in the first International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland in 1983 and competed in the 200m race where she finished seventh out of seven in heat number 6 with a time of 26.13 seconds to be ranked 35th out of 44 competitors. In the long jump, Marie-Ange competed in group A and her best jump was measured at 5.20m for 12th position and an overall finish of 23rd out of 30 contestants.
At the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Rome, Italy in 1987, Marie-Ange clocked 12.64 seconds in heat number six of the 100m event to be ranked 37th out of 51 athletes.
Olympic Games appearance
Following in the footsteps of Margaret Morel and Bessie de Létourdie who had made the first Seychelles team to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union, Marie-Ange waschosen to take part in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California, United States of America in 1984.
“I was the only female on the Seychelles team made up of track and field athletes and boxers. I enjoyed it a lot and thanks to the hard training I managed to register personal best times in the 100m (win-assisted 12.61 seconds for seventh and last place in heat number six and 38th out of 40 overall on August 4) and 200m (25.88 seconds for seventh and last place in heat number two and 36th out of 37 on August 8).
In the long jump, she registered a best jump of 5.21m in the first of three attempts to finish 23rd and last overall.
“I am glad I took that first step at that time, which kept me away from any bad influences. I was also able to make a name for myself and make my country proud,” said Marie-Ange.
Before hanging up her spikes, Marie-Ange achieved personal bests of: 100m ‒ 12.48 seconds (in 1985), 200m ‒ 25.20 seconds (in 1983) and long jump – 5.53m (in 1986).
Presently, Marie-Ange does some early morning walks on the beach two or three times a week, or goes to the fitness trail sometimes in the evening, or the tennis court from time to time to keep her heart healthy and her mind positive.
“I thank my Creator Father God for being by my side always.”
Message for the young generation
Marie-Ange’s message for the younger generation of sportsmen and women is: “Please take a first step when you’re still young. Go out there, you might have a talent that you don’t even know. It is only by putting it into practice that you will discover what you can do. Who knows…..you could be the one to bring Seychelles its first Olympic gold medal. Leave detrimental substances like drugs and alcohol out of your life. So many youngsters over the world do not get the chance that we have over here. So take up a sport… go out there make a name for yourself …. Make our little country Seychelles proud.”
Compiled by Gerard Govinden
