INSIDE THE OLYMPICS - WEIGHTLIFTING
Small in stature only
Weightlifting has always been a part of the modern Olympics. There eight weight classes for men and seven for women. Some of the most popular competitors are the lifters in the lowest weight class who lift many times their own weight.
By JOHN SCHWARB, Times Correspondent
Published August 15, 2004
|
|
DATES TO WATCH
Today – Women's 53kg final, 9:30 a.m., CNBC; men's 56kg final, 1 p.m.
Monday – Women's 58 kg final, 9:30 a.m., MSNBC; men's 62kg final, 1 p.m., Ch. 8 |
|
As a teenager, Tara Cunningham had a future as a gymnast.
Two decades later she made her second appearance in the Olympics, toiling in the center of the mat, deftly maneuvering her 5-foot-1, 105-pound frame.
Except gymnastics is no longer Cunningham's sport. Weightlifting bars, not uneven bars or other gymnastics apparatus, made her a champion in 2000 in Sydney. In Athens, she hit the weights again.
Not exactly what you would expect from a sport more often associated with giants. Yet at every Olympics, weightlifting produces memorable winners who hoist seemingly impossible amounts of weight given their small size.
Call them "Mighty Mites," if you wish. Or weightlifting's best "pound-for-pound" athletes, to borrow a term most often used to describe those who excel everywhere but on a scale.
There are plenty in Athens, and they are happy to change perceptions.
"Whenever I tell people I'm a weightlifter, they always say "no way,' " Cunningham said in USA Today. "It's fun to break the stereotype. When I tell guys I can clean and jerk 230 pounds, they freak.
"It's so much fun to shock people."
There is nothing terribly shocking about heavyweights in Olympic weightlifting. When Hossein Rezazadeh, known lovingly as the "Iranian Hercules" to his country, lifts a record 579.8 pounds in the clean and jerk over his 350-pound body, it is an admirable feat but perhaps not as mythical to the average sports fan.
Think of it in terms of Buccaneers: Defensive lineman Booger McFarland should be able to hoist hundreds of pounds, he has a 300-pound powerplant to work with. But if Martin Gramatica heaved more than twice his body weight, would that not raise a few more eyebrows?
Just look at the "Pocket Hercules," arguably the most revered lifter in Olympic history.
Naim Suleymanoglu of Turkey, all 4-11 and 141 pounds of him, became a homeland hero at age 21 in 1988 after winning Olympic gold. In adding two more golds in 1992 and 1996, he became the first lifter with three Olympic titles and as close to a household name as the sport has ever had.
In Atlanta after winning the third gold, the media asked him if he had earned the title of best lifter ever.
"You make your own decision," Suleymanoglu said through an interpreter.
Fans of weightlifting did, praising him even after the 2000 Games when a comeback attempt and shot at a fourth consecutive gold fell short.
Whether a middleweight competitor, even one as wildly successful as Suleymanoglu, would be as much of a sensation is questionable. The contrast of the tiny weightlifter with the almost-cartoonishly large bar of weights over his or her head makes for great television, and the diminutive athletes almost always have unusual stories and habits.
Cunningham, then Tara Nott when she won gold four years ago following the disqualification of a Bulgarian who had lifted more but failed a drug test, did not start lifting until she was out of college and looking for a way to stay in shape.
Eight months later, she won a national title.
Halil Mutlu of Turkey, considered by some to be the heir to the Pocket Hercules, could equal Suleymanoglu's three-gold-medal feat with a win in the 137-pound (62 kilogram) class. His previous two medals were in the smallest class, 123 pounds, but the move up to a heavier group hardly diminishes his allure as a tiny giant of the sport.
Turkish journalists even say Mutlu imitates Suleymanoglu by walking with his hands in his pockets.
Of course, the imitation continues when the hands are hoisting weights. In 2000 Mutlu set three world records in his weight class with a 303.6-pound snatch, a 368.5-pound clean and jerk and a 671-pound total.
Mutlu is also one of four men ever to lift three times his body weight (another Suleymanoglu feat). Calling him the pound-for-pound best weightlifter in the Games is certainly no stretch.
Maybe even the best pound-for-pound athlete in Athens, period.
-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.
[Last modified August 13, 2004, 23:23:25]
Richmond nails long jump, joins city's other Olympian
BasketballSecond team sparks Americans
GymnasticsBig pain and gain for U.S.
NotebookGreeks suspend medal-winners
Online JournalMeeting the world community of athletes
Without sister in finals, disappointment sets in
RoundupAmericans extend streak to 71 victories with mercy-rule drubbing of Italy
Scene and seenNow where was the Starbucks?
SoccerU.S. team gasps by Brazil 2-0
SwimmingAnd they're off
Valrico's Correia gets a bittersweet silver
VolleyballAmerica falls to China in opener
BaseballAL: Indians close in on first
NL: Wood helps out his own cause in 2-0 Cubs victory
Stolen base king wants another opportunity
College footballUSF players keep in touch with families
GolfSingh's slim lead still gains field's respect
Bogey blues strike Els on the back nine
The 19th hole
U.S. Amateur final pits first-timer vs. 2003 runnerup
In briefDeal altered after Payton no-show
MotorsportsClean start concerns Johnson
NFLAFC: Tomlinson gets $60M
Dolphins take to the air as dueling QBs top Jags
NFC: Injuries limit Seattle lineup
Owens went too far in implicating Garcia
OutdoorsDaily fishing report
Prepare your boat for the next storm
RaysBaldelli reluctantly goes on disabled list
Early burst doesn't hold up
BucsCharley rattles the Bucs
Camp breaks early - today
