IPF Master Bench Worlds
 Team USA in Zlin, Czech Republic Arriving in Zlin, Czech Republic, the first order of business was to check into the Hotel Moskva (Moscow). We paid the meet officials for the room and the bus transportation to Zlin. We also took a picture for our photo ID's that we wore around our necks. It had our picture, name and country. Rooms were about $50 for a single and $65 for a double per night, which included breakfast. Rooms were okay and the bed comfortable. There was no shower per se, but a bathtub with a hand held shower attachment, no curtains, so you had to be careful not to spray the whole bathroom while showering. Most of the hotel clerks could speak English. The Hotel Moskva was large and had 6 restaurants (that I knew of). It was 11 stories and also there were businesses and offices on many of the floors. The restaurants included a Czech (Bohemian) Restaurant, a Greek Restaurant, a Mexican Restaurant, an Irish Pub/Restaurant, another small restaurant that I never ate in, and a Pizza Parlor/bowling alley (3 lanes, American-style bowling). There was also dancing on Friday and Saturday night. The lobby was large and it had a bar and a Kiosk. The check-ins, opening ceremonies, weigh-ins, competition and banquet were all held there, so theoretically you never had to leave the hotel. Thursday, at the opening ceremonies the coaches asked SHW Frank Beeler to carry the USA placard in the short procession to the stage, who quickly borrowed someone's team jacket and stood on the stage holding the USA placard during speeches. There were 25 nations officially entered with about 70 Women and 220 Men competing. Thursday had the Women's Master 1 and Master 2 and the Men's Master 3 (60+ year-old) divisions competition. Coaches Kevin Farley and Nectar Kirkiris were ready to go to work. The entire week they did a great job preparing the lifters and playing the "strategy game" during the competition. This was an advantage to being on the American team. We observed some rather bad strategy by lifters from other nations. In the Women's Master 2 (50+ yr-old) division, the first American lifter was Jeanne Harms in the 123 lb weight class. Jeanne got her opener of 143 lbs to finish 5th, only 11 lbs shy of the silver medal. In the 132 lb class, veteran lifter Helen Sauer easily took the Gold with her opener of 215 lbs. Helen had two attempts at 220 but it was not in the cards for that day. We had our first world champion of the competition! The last American for the USA in Women's Master 2 was Fran Houston. She went 3 for 3 winning the Gold medal in the Supers with a 237 lb bench! The American Women's Master 2 team placed 4th over all and Helen Sauer was 3rd place in the Champion of Champions competition. In the Women's Master 1 (40-49 yr-old) division, the first lifter was Leigh Haines in the 115 lb weight class. Unfortunately Leigh failed to get the judges approval on any of her three attempts. Leigh is tough and we know she will bounce back strong. Next up for the USA was Angela Simmons in the 132 lb class. Under pressure, Angela came through on her 3rd lift to up her bench to 198 lbs and capture the Bronze medal. In the 182 lb class, Melinda Baum just missed her 3rd attempt and had to settle for 4th place with a fine bench of 215 lbs. In the 198 lb class, we watched Holly Oxford go 2 for 3 ending up with a bench of 226 lbs. This put Holly in 2nd place for the Silver medal! In the Supers, the USA had two entrants. Deborah Ferrell put on a show opening with 375lbs - good for the Gold medal. Deb then attempted to break her own world record, but both attempts just fell short. Not to be denied some of the spotlight, Paulette Calhoun went 2 for 3, winning the Silver medal with a bench of 203 lbs. Way to go! This great effort by the American Women's Master 1 team earned them a 2nd place team trophy and Deb Ferrell won 1st place in the Champion of Champions competition. The first American Men's Master 3 (60+ yr-old) competitor was Ivan Zwick in the 148 lb weight class. Ivan benched a very respectable 270 lbs for 4th place, just missing his third attempt of 281 lbs for a medal. In the 181 lb weight class, Ron Hemenway missed his first two attempts, but came through on his third attempt of 309 lbs for 6th place. In the 198 lb weight class, 66 yr-old world record holder Bill Phillips lead from start to finish. His Gold medal winning bench was 402. Bill narrowly missed a fourth attempt to up his world record. Bill is a real class act. In the 242 lb weight class, Clifford Tallman was the man to beat, but sadly he failed to make a legal lift. It was a real disappointment for Cliff and the whole USA team who really felt for this popular lifter. This opened the door for 73 yr-old Joe Yanovitch to take the Bronze medal with a strong 303 lb bench. Way to go Joe! In the 275 weight class, Murray Marsh came through on his third attempt with a 364 lb bench to take the silver medal. USA teammates, and other fans who know this gentle giant, let out some of the loudest applause of the entire competition. In the Supers, the USA got its second Gold medal for the day. Ralph Sofferdine looked strong, going 3 for 3 and ending up with a 419 lb bench. The American Men's Master 3 team placed 4th over all and Bill Phillips was 2nd place in the Champion of Champions competition. Friday was the Men's master 2 (50-59 yr-old) category. The first lifter for the USA was Peter Yong in the 148 lb weight class. Peter got his opener of 204 lbs, good for 7th place. In the 165 lb weight class there was tight competition among the top four lifters. Jay Haines of the USA made his second attempt of 364 - good for the 3rd place Bronze medal! In the 181 lb weight class, lifter and IPF referee Bill Clayton benched 314 lbs, good for 8th in a field of 12 lifters. In the 198 lb class Steve Harms could only get his opener of 342 lbs to pass and finished in 9th place in a large field of lifters. The next weight class with a USA lifter was the 242 lb class. There, Steve Caldwell came through on his third attempt for a 6th place finish with a 331 lb bench. The 275 lb weight class saw American Kevin Hutchinson in a tight competition. "Hutch" could only make his opener of 463, good for 4th place. Hutch had a narrow miss at 485, which would have been good for the bronze, but his lockout was a little cocked off to one side. Next came the Master 2 Supers with 2 American lifters. USA lifter Frank Beeler went 3 for 3, ending up with a 590 lb bench for the Gold medal and upped his own world record by 5.5 lbs. Frank then narrowly missed a 4th attempt of 606 lbs. Ron Beuch had a tough day and did not get any of his 3 attempts to pass. A learning experience for this well-liked lifter. The American Men's Master 2 team placed 5th over all and Frank Beeler was 3rd place in the Champion of Champions competition. Frank had the only world record of the week for the USA team. The long trip, time change and strict judging had an effect on many of the American competitors. Saturday saw the start of the Men's Master 1 (40-49 yr-old) competition. The first USA lifter was Kevin Jones in the 132 lb class. Kevin went 2 for 3, ending up with a bench of 226 for 4th place, just missing a medal. In the 165 lb class, Theodore Kreuger benched a fine 375 for 5th place. This was tight competition with only 22 lbs separating 2nd through 6th place. In the 198 lb class Dana Rosenzweig made his opener with a fine bench of 424 lbs, good for 5th place in this competitive division. Dana was looking for a lot more, but it didn't happen for him that day. In the 220's, Charles Turco went 1 for 3, for a strong bench of 468 lbs and a 5th place finish out of 11 lifters. (He is looking forward to Master 2 next year!) Sunday morning had the second session of Men's Master 1 to finish the lifting for these World Championships. In the 242's, the USA had two lifters. Gary Pamplin had a good bench of 529, but just got edged out for the bronze and settled for 4th. Dave Doan was the man to beat that day, and no one did. Dave made his opener (I'm not kidding), but still had to come through under pressure and make his 3rd lift to win the Gold medal with the biggest bench of the entire competition, 595 lbs. The 275's saw American Brad Klinger pull away for the victory. His second attempt of 584 lbs was good for the Gold. (Another guy looking at Master's 2 next year - unbelievable.) We hear he had a great time in Finland attending a wedding after the competition. The Supers had Dan Gaudreau of the USA as the favorite. Unfortunately, big Dan couldn't find the groove, missing all three attempts. The third was locked out, but we were told the buttocks came up... The American Men's Master 1 team placed 3rd over all and had Dave Doan 2nd and Brad Klinger 3rd in the Champion of Champions competition. Overall the Czechs ran a good competition. The walk from the warm-up area had a strange twist; you had to walk past a cocktail bar in the lounge area to get to the competition area. (A new meaning to "the bar is loaded.") The highlight of the competition for me was the camaraderie among the USA lifters and coaches. The spouses and friends of the lifters were also part of the team. For every USA Gold medal, we were proud to face our flag and sing along with the Star Spangled Banner (far more of a patriotic showing than any other nation). The British team had a lot of familiar faces and the New Zealand team had some real nice folks. (They didn't even complain about our accent.) The Americans did spank the British in bowling Saturday night, and luckily the British couldn't find a soccer ball Sunday morning for their plotted revenge. After four days of the announcer girl, we were pretty much tired of hearing "so sorry, no lift" after each failed attempt, but her English was very good and she really did do a great job. The awards girl also receives an honorable mention. A down side was two American women lifters having stuff stolen out of their room. This was the only bad incident I heard of at the competition. The closing banquet was very interesting; from the 60 yr-old former Mr. Czechoslovakia, now contortionist, fitting into a small box, to the meet director being a fantastic singer (in Czech only, so to us they all sounded pretty much the same after 6 or 7 songs). Then there was the French lifter who secretly put a napkin in the Czech singers belt loop while he was singing. (He got caught by the singer while contemplating the crowd urged him to light the napkin.) I spoke to a German lifter at the banquet. She said that they wanted to bring a big team to Miami next year and beat us in our own back yard. She mentioned how nice it was for me to be able to lift at home next year. I told her that Miami was 4,500 kilometers and three time zones from where I live and I would have to travel farther to Miami than anyone in all of Europe had to travel to the Czech Republic for this meet. She also thought that we got all our expenses paid to go to the meet, so I explained we were responsible for all travel, rooms, food, etc. What misconceptions... Let's support the USAPL and put together a strong team for the 2006 World Masters Bench Championships in Miami. In the mean time, see you all in St. Louis! |