Lowcountry woman, Florida native will represent Lebanon in the Tokyo Olympics
Mahassen Hala Fattouh Paiva has so many emotions swirling as she thinks about what’s just ahead: This week she takes part in the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics.
Fattouh Paiva, 31, a Florida native who now lives in Yemassee, will be making history as the first female Lebanese weightlifter to participate in the Olympics. She is one of six on Lebanon’s Olympic team.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it. I’m hoping I don’t let my nerves get the best of me and can enjoy the moment instead of tripping or something,” Fattouh Paiva told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette last month. “To wear a warm-up that has the Lebanese colors and flag on it and have my name on there is special. Those are all things that make me very proud to compete for Lebanon.
“It has been a fun process to travel around the world and represent those colors.”
Getting to this point has been years in the making for Fattouh Paiva, who has dual citizenship in the United States and Lebanon. She started weightlifting in 2004 and began the process of competing for Lebanon in international competitions in 2012 or 2013.
Her father, Mohammed Zakariah Fattouh, was born in Lebanon but left the country as thousands migrated during the nation’s civil war, which lasted from 1975 to to 1990. Fattouh Paiva still has an aunt and several cousins living in Lebanon and sees them when she goes back to visit.
Fattouh moved to Florida and married Susan Green. Their daughter Fattouh Paiva lived most of her life in Florida until her recent move to South Carolina. She and her husband Ryan Paiva live in Yemassee, a small town that straddles Beaufort and Hampton counties.
“We have had a very adventurous life,” her husband said.
Getting started
Fattouh Paiva began weightlifting when she was in high school in Port Orange, near Daytona Beach.
In Florida, weightlifting is a high-school sanction sport, and she started competing at the state level. Fattouh Paiva admits she wasn’t great when she started, but she won a state championship in 2006 and continued with the sport after high school.
Competing in events around Florida, Fattouh Paiva eventually met her husband. Ryan Paiva was a state weightlifting champion at a rival high school and the two were familiar with each other.
Ryan has been her coach during times in her career.
“He has a good appreciation for the sport,” Fattouh Paiva said of her husband. “He was a good junior athlete when he competed. Weightlifting is in his family. His grandfather was an Olympic weightlifter. His cousin was an alternate for Team USA. Being able to be involved in the sport together is wonderful. Couldn’t imagine going to these meets without him. I want to go everywhere with him.”
Paiva said he admires his wife’s tenacity and dedication to reach this level in her career.
“She works so hard. She has been extremely diligent about it . She doesn’t miss practice and doesn’t slack off. Everything for her is how hard and how smart she can work,” he said. “It has really been nice to support her, but it has been really her hard work to get where she is.”
In 2018, Fattouh Paiva earned the first medal for Lebanon women’s weightlifting in the Mediterranean games. She also won five silver medals and a bronze at the Arab Championship and Islamic Solidarity Championship in Egypt.
In 2019, she earned three gold medals and became the first female Arab champion for Lebanon at the Arab Championship in Jordan.
“To be able to stand on the podium, have the flag, hear the national anthem, was a big moment for me,” Fattouh Paiva said.
Making move to SC
Much of her recent international success has come since she started working with coach Ray Jones, who has been training weightlifters for more than two decades in Beaufort. Jones also works with Beaufort native C.J. Cummings, who qualified for the Olympics with Team USA and is one of the country’s rising stars in the sport.
“Ray is an enigma,” Paiva said. “There is no one else like him in the world. He is amazing to work with.”
Fattouh Paiva was training in Lebanon for a short time, but the training facilities weren’t ideal, with few full-time coaches. Her husband said the Lebanon federation recommended that Fattouh Paiva return to the United States. Plus, she was struggling to stay healthy.
Working with Jones has given her a strong coaching figure who has helped with different techniques and prevented injuries.
Her best snatch in competition: 95 kg (209 pounds). She also claims a 121 kg (267 pounds) clean and jerk in competition.
Fattouh Paiva began training with Jones in 2017, driving to Florida to see her husband once or twice a month. Last year during COVID-19, the two decided to make South Carolina a permanent home and bought a house in the Lowcountry.
The two have a quarter-acre in Yemassee, and Fattouh Paiva spends time in the garden and working as a bookkeeper for her husband’s businesses when she isn’t training.
Giving back to Lebanon
Whether she medals or not, Fattouh Paiva hopes to soak in the experience. She and her husband plan to visit Lebanon for several weeks after the Olympics to lay the groundwork for another of her dreams. She hopes her Olympic exposure could help establish a strong female weightlifting program there. She’s embracing her role as a trailblazer.
Lebanon already has a history of success in male weightlifting. One of the country’s four medals came in the sport when Mohamed Traboulsi earned a silver medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Fattouh Paiva said she receives messages from girls who look up to her. She has a message back: Don’t be afraid to chase your dreams.
“Not giving up and not listening to the naysayers is a huge thing as far as accomplishing our dreams,” she said. “I surrounded myself with people who supported me and did not pull me down. Surround yourself with the right kind of people, and anything is possible.”
