She could have been standing on a beach in Rio de Janeiro, celebrating a podium finish at the Pan American Games.

Instead, Yukon weightlifter Jeane Lassen was sitting in her living room Tuesday, explaining her decision to skip the trip to Brazil, and focus on a Canadian competition in Kelowna, B.C. next month.

Lassen, who qualified to attend the Pan Ams in the 75-kilogram category, has been back home training in Whitehorse since the spring. Her original plan leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing did include Brazil, but after failing to qualify for the world championships in her regular 69-kg category at the nationals earlier this year, priorities changed.

The Pan Ams, she explained, are not a qualifier for either worlds or the Olympics in weightlifting. About three weeks ago, the Kelowna competition was added to the Canadian lifters' schedule for August 11, and it will be a worlds qualifier.

'I have to qualify for the worlds in the 69-kg class, and the Pan Ams would have been the 75-kg class, so there was no point really except for the medal,' said Lassen. 'I've already won a Pan Am medal, so it wasn't too difficult of a decision for me.'

Rio would have been two days travel each way, and when you factor in the adjustment to the time change, the food and the climate, as well as training conditions, Lassen felt competing there would have affected her preparation for both Kelowna and the world championships in September as well.

Recently she had coach Mirek Korkowski, based in Winnipeg, travel to Whitehorse for some one-on-one technical sessions. It was Korkowski who helped her decide which competition would be best, she explained, referring to a trip they took into Sportslife to buy fishing licenses.

'I asked the man working in the store if I should go to Pan Ams or not. He asked where they were, and when I said Rio, he was like, Oh yeah, why not? What a great experience.'

'But my coach made the comparison ... you've got dull sheep on the right and a moose sheep on the left, which one do you shoot? And the man right away said, Well, which one haven't you shot before?'

'That was it right there. It was an obvious choice at that point.'

Lassen also consulted with her colleagues at B210 about what the best route would be.

B210 is a group of corporate business people who got together after freestyle skier Jennifer Heil finished fourth at the 2002 Olympic Games. Heil, explained Lassen, was very talented but didn't have the support from the federal government she needed to succeed. So the corporate group decided to help Heil.

'They really built her from the ground up,' commented Lassen. 'They got her on the podium basically. She won a gold medal (at the 2006 Olympics). They saw how successful their approach was and decided to help other athletes. There are 11 of us now.'

The group also helps Lassen with her career decisions, such as what competitions to attend. It's too hard on the body to go to every one, and an athlete can only peak so many teams, so they have to pick and choose what they're going to focus on each year.

'It's really good to have seasoned athletes helping you,' Lassen commented.

So instead of celebrating temporarily on the beach, Lassen is thinking of the big payoff at the end of the tunnel Beijing. She's trying to rally the Yukon community behind her in her goal.

Several people have already offered to help the local athlete in any way they can, such as by cash donations, donation of their services in-kind or even just words of encouragement. One Yukon resident, Dennis Mitchell of Carmacks, approached Lassen on the street last week.

'He just came up to me on the street and said Wait here, I'm going to the bank right now.' Then he gave me $100 and said You're making the Yukon proud.''

One-hundred dollars may not seem like much, but for a national athlete with a lot of expenses like Lassen, it can go directly into things such as massage therapy, or even a basket full of healthy food.

'It's really encouraging to see someone believes in you,' stated Lassen.

Another one of those people is Jon Rudolph, owner of Golden Hill Ventures. Rudolph saw Lassen lift at the 2003 Western Canadian Championships in Whitehorse and has been impressed with her abilities and work ethic ever since.

He helped pay for her training stint in Italy earlier this year, and just recently, stepped up to the plate as a major sponsor, presenting Lassen with a cheque to pay off her entire student loan.

The balance currently sits at $17,000, but could have been much more with the interest that would have been tacked on over the next several years if Lassen paid it off herself.

Lassen is a carded national athlete, meaning she gets federal government funding, and under the Athlete Assistance Program, student athletes get their tuition paid for.

However, since Lassen wasn't carded at the time her debt incurred weightlifters couldn't get carded yet she doesn't get excused from paying her loan.

She finds it slightly strange that the money she gets from the federal government as a carded athlete, actually goes back to the government in the form of loan payments. That's something her mom, Moira, is lobbying to have changed.

While athletes are in their quest for carding, training full-time and not able to work, they should also be eligible for the tuition benefit, Moira argues.

'If I had kept going to school, I wouldn't have to pay it, but I already have my Bachelor's degree (in Education,' said Lassen.

With government funding, she receives a cheque very two months, so it's kind of 'feast or famine', and before Golden Hill's sponsorship, it was easy for her to miss payments on her student loan.

Now, that won't be a major concern.

'This is one way (Rudolph) felt he could help me and have the most impact on easing my financial burden,' stated Lassen.

'I've come far, but this last leg is what's going to be hardest, although it will be the most fruitful also hopefully. I really appreciate someone getting on board now, instead of waiting for the big photo op in Beijing.'

In an effort to earn a few extra bucks for training costs, Lassen recently became a sales associate for Usana nutritional products. But money only comes to Lassen if she sells stuff from her individual website, www.jeanelassen.usana.com, or at Sport Yukon. She doesn't receive any proceeds from the products sold in local stores.

Still, every little bit helps.

Behind the weightlifting platform at Better Bodies, Lassen has put up a sponsorship board, so anybody who offers additional support has their name up there as part of the team helping her get to the Olympics.

Lassen feels those who go the extra mile deserve a bit of extra recognition, although she pointed out everyone in the territory has played a big role in her success as a weightlifter so far.

'I want Yukoners to feel like they are a part of my success. I want them to say, We did well at the Olympics. Not just we as Canadians, but we as Yukoners.'