Dorian Rey: “I want to do the best I can”
Dorian Rey, a third-year undergraduate student in sports science, took first place at the university weightlifting and bodybuilding championships held in Orléans on March 23 and 24, 2024.
Dorian Rey didn’t win just one medal this year—he won two: first place in weightlifting and first place in bodybuilding. With a snatch of 120 kilos and a clean and jerk of 140 kilos, the student is a force to be reckoned with on the collegiate sports circuit and took the top spot on the podium in weightlifting. To win first place in bodybuilding, he had to win four new events: the bench press, the rowing machine, pull-ups, and weightlifting.
The journey that led him to these victories began when the young man, at the age of 13, started doing CrossFit. “It’s a mix of constantly varied, high-intensity functional movements, ”explains Dorian Rey. But since there is no CrossFit federation, there is also no collegiate championship for the sport, which led the young man to compete in weightlifting and bodybuilding.
14 hours of training per week
A winning choice, with these medals being no accident: “I train two hours a day from Monday through Friday, then three hours on Saturday, and sometimes on Sunday as well.”That’s nearly 14 hours of training per week, mostly at the university sports center, next to the UFR Staps, where he’s in his third year of a bachelor’s degree in sports training, with a career goal of “maybe physical therapy.”
Although the student manages to balance his studies and training without any special accommodations or difficulty, he admits to having “a slightly busy week as exams approach, when I sometimes have to choose between training and studying.” Dorian Rey, who is also a member of the ALSDD weightlifting club in Toulon, now wants to see how far he can go.“I never would have imagined myself at the French championships, so even though I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I want to do the best I can.”