– Advertisement –
By Neto Baptiste
Recently crowned as the country’s bodybuilding champion Tariq Kienesberger is crediting his overly competitive nature, his desire to dominate and the overwhelming support of family and friends for his recent success at the National Bodybuilding Championships.
Speaking following last Saturday night’s competition at St Anthony’s Secondary School, Kienesberger revealed that being on stage activated his beast mode as he fed off the crowd’s energy and his determination to outmuscle his opponents.
“I want to do my best, but I also want to dominate. I want to bring something that’s really competitive [because] maybe I didn’t pull my back in as hard the first time in Classic. The second time around, I’m going to make sure I do that. Maybe I didn’t, you know, enlarge myself enough or widen my back enough in the lightweight bodybuilding division. When it came to the overall, growing up against a big guy like Jameel who was probably 20, 30 pounds over me, I need to make myself look just as big as him in certain areas so it doesn’t look like I’m eclipsed. So having that family and just overall support system, it really pushed me,” he said.
Kienesberger, who returned to the stage following a three-year hiatus due to academic commitments, claim the Senior Men’s Bodybuilding (Lightweight), Overall Men’s Bodybuilding, Senior Classic Physique (B) and the Overall Classic Physique titles.
Despite his dominance, the bodybuilder said it was not as easy as it may have seemed.
“One of the things I was very cognizant of was the quality of athletes. So, for example, Jonte Barnes is someone who is an amazing bodybuilder and he’s represented us at the Caribbean and Central American Championships before. Jameel Knight, he’s also a terrific bodybuilder who’s represented us regionally, not once, not twice, perhaps maybe three times and he’s also attended the CACs before, so those guys are not pushovers by any way, stretch or form. They’re terrific athletes, so for me I always focused on myself, but I was not going to step into this and assume that I was going to be the victor,” he said.
As for what’s next – the young athlete now has his eyes set on taking his dominance to the regional championships later this month.
“We definitely have to go to the Caribbean and Central American Championships and that’s going to be held in Saint Lucia on September 24th to 28th. I was also told that after Saturday’s, I guess you could say victory, I have to do a few more competitions this season before I can take a break. I think I have enough to at least attempt to be alongside some of those veterans – some of those really good guys on a regional and also on an international stage – so I’d like to at least get that experience,” Kienesberger said.
In addition to his four titles, Kienesberger was awarded the Bernard Percival Classic Physique Best Poser Award and the Melissa and Michelle Seaforth Breakout Athlete of the Year Award.
About The Author
– Advertisement –
