Johanne Cholette Pattyn
Johanna Cholette first picked up a barbell in 1981. By the end of 1982, she was Ontario’s female powerlifting champion and a few months later she captured the Canadian title. By the time she retired from competition in 1986, Cholette had won 10 events – including another national championship – while establishing a handful of records. She turned in a fifth-place finish at the world championships in 1984 and was named Glengarry County’s female athlete of the year at the Lions Club sports award dinner that same year.
It’s little wonder the tiny but powerful Alexandria native will be enshrined into the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame on Spetember 4 in Maxville.
Good things, small packages The woman who was destined to be a national champion was born in Alexandria the day after Canada Day in 1961.
The daughter of Germain and Clare Cholette grew up in Alexandria, but she didn’t grow very much. By the time she reached adulthood, Cholette stood only five-foot-two and weighted less than 100 pounds.
But Alexandria’s mighty mite would soon show everyone that she packed a lot of power in that small frame.
It was in 1981 when Ron Pattyn – then Cholette’s boyfriend, later her husband – first got her interested in the sport of powerlifting. After months of training, Cholette made her competitive debut in the 44 kg (97-found) weight class at a bench press competition in London and met with immediate success, establishing a new Canadian record with a 52 kg lift.
Cholette made her first trip to the national championships in February, 1982 and placed third. In November of the same year, she won her first major title when she claimed the Ontario provincial crown. Cholette made a return trip to the nationals in February, 1983, and this time she would not settle for a bronze medal. Cholette captured the gold medal and was subsequently asked to represent Canada at the world championships in Australia later that year.
She had to decline because the worlds were on the same weekend she was scheduled to marry Pattyn, himself a former powerlifter and the founder of Pattyn’s Gym in Alexandria. But Cholette would get another crack at performing on the international stage.
More records, titles The latter stages of 1983 and early months of 1984 saw the continuation of Cholette’s meteoric rise to the upper echelons of her sport. The Alexandria lifter, who by then was using the name Pattyn, won a competition in Kitchener in July, 1983 and in the fall she picked up a second provincial title.
In early 1984, she repeated as Canadian champion while setting a trio of national records. Again Pattyn was invited to wear the Canadian colors at the world championships, and this time she was able to accept.
Pattyn travelled to Santa Monica, California for the 1984 world championships and placed fifth despite being hampered by a back injury. “I was happy to come fifth overall, but I was a little disappointed,” she told The Glengarry News in an interview following her return from California. “I did less than what I usually lift in the dead lift event. My back was sore and it bothered me a lot.” The back trouble didn’t stop Pattyn from establishing new Canadian records in the squat (97.5 kg) and the bench press (55 kg) and her overall finish could have been higher had she not been forced to pass up her third squat attempt.
Pattyn lost her third attempt on a technicality – she did not sufficiently increase her lift weight between the first and second attempt.
Nevertheless, Pattyn was still a contributor to Canada’s bronze medal in the team competition. In addition to being named the top female athlete in Glengarry in 1984, Pattyn received the Distinguished Performance Achievement Award from then Ontario premier William Davis.
Pattyn’s career was put on hold for a while later that year as she became pregnant with her first child. Son Dylan was born in March of 1985, and Pattyn decided to get back into shape by heading for the gym. Pattyn made it a hat trick of provincial titles in the fall of 1985. She made her fourth trip to the nationals in early 1986 and settled for the silver medal.
The 1986 nationals would be Pattyn’s last competition. A growing family – Pattyn gave birth to two more sons – and Ron’s nomadic job at CP Rail made training difficult.
Despite her retirement as an athlete, Johanne is still active in the sport. She is a referee and is involved with blind powerlifting and the Special Olympics.
