IPF World Masters Bench Press Championships
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Arriving in Berlin, Germany, the first order of business for many was to wait for the bus ride to Schwedt, about 1 ˝ hours northeast of Berlin. Unfortunately some had to wait for 9+ hours sitting around the airport. Luckily for those who had to wait 10 hours on Tuesday, 275-lb. lifter Ron Beuch was with them, Tegel Airport may never be the same.
After driving almost two hours to Schwedt, we were dropped off at our various hotels. The USA team was scattered at about 4 different hotels in the area. Schwedt is a town of about 60,000 located in the old East Germany on the Oder River, very near the border of Poland. There were various cracks about the big shopping center in town, the "Oder Center". (Actually oder does not mean "odor" in German, it means "other".) Being in the old East Germany, people who could speak English were not as common as in other areas of Germany. Another twist was that almost nowhere would exchange $100 bills due to the fear of counterfeiting. This left a couple of lifters hurting for cash as that was the majority of the currency they brought. The venue was at the "Aquarium", a swimming and athletic center. The lifting platform area was out over an Olympic sized swimming pool, with a ramp leading out to it. This was fine for lifting and certainly for keeping the crowd away from the judges, but there were some minor logistic and technical challenges. First, the lifter could not even go on the walkway to the lifting area and platform till after the 60-second clock started. The chalk was also in the lifting area, so you had to use part of your 60 seconds chalking up. The 60-second clock was also not visible to the lifters and coaches, only from the platform. Third, the 60-second clock ran fast, it took 42 seconds for the clock to run down from 60 seconds to zero. After they figured it out, they had to add time after he clock ran down…, pleeeeeze, this is a world championship! The warm up area was spacious and you had to walk outside to get to the lifting area, luckily it did not rain hard during the competition. There were about 22 nations officially entered with 67 Women and 191 Men competing. Thursday had the Women's Master 1 (40-49 year-old) and Master 2 (50+ year-old), and the Men's Master 3 (60+ year-old) divisions competition. Coaches Kevin Farley, Nectar Kirkiris and Dana Rosenzweig were ready to go to work. The entire week they did a great job preparing the lifters. Their expertise in strategy during the competition, and knowing all the rules, was an advantage to being on the American team. We observed some rather bad strategy by lifters from other nations. I felt especially sorry for the lone Austrian entrant, Jean-Pierre Aymon. He made an easy lift on his third attempt, but did not know he could have upped it 2.5 kg to go for the gold. In the Women's Master 2 (50+ yr-old) division, the first American lifter was last year's silver medallist Deborah Hairston in the 114 lb division. Deborah benched 160 lbs on her second lift. She went for the 3rd place medal on her third attempt, but a miss had her settle for 4th with a fine bench of 160 lbs. World competition veteran Jeanne Harms was next in the 123 lb weight class. Jeanne's opener of 160 lbs was good enough to get the Silver medal. With the Silver wrapped up, Jeanne went for the gold on her third attempt, but it wasn't to be that day. In the 132 lb class, veteran lifter Helen Sauer went for an easy opener of 220 lbs, but a technical glitch caused red lights. She got 220 easily on her second attempt, then went for the gold on her third attempt. She fell short and settled for the silver with her opener of 220 lbs. This was probably the most competitive weight division in women's M-2. Helen's Silver medal finish was good enough for 3nd place in the best lifter competition! World competition newcomer Michelle Sora was next for the USA in the 165 lb. division. She easily made her opener, then also made her second attempt of 215 lbs. Her lift was good for the Silver medal and a spot on the awards platform! The last American for the USA in Women's Master 2 was defending champion Fran Houston. Her opener of 259 was good the Gold medal. This was the only gold for the women in the M-2 group, though there were three fine silver medal performances. The American Women's Master 2 team had only 5 lifters, but placed a respectable placed 4th over all (only 9 team points behind 1st place). Helen Sauer was 3rd place in the best lifter competition. In the Women's Master 1 (40-49 yr-old) division, the first lifter was Leigh Haines in the 123 lb. weight class and she was in for a battle. Leigh's lift of 160 lbs. was the same as the 1st place finisher, but by body weight (0.1 kg) criteria, Leigh had to settle for her second consecutive Silver medal at the worlds. (I hope Leigh knows we were kidding when we called her "Fatty".) Next up for the USA was veteran lifter Patricia Diane Siveny in the 132 lb class. She could only get her opener of 160 lbs. on this day and had to settle for 6th in a very competitive weight class.. In the 182 lb class, world competition newcomer Barbara Bouvlana-Behm was up for the USA. On her third attempt for the bronze, which she looked like she had in her, she timed out. Certainly the problems mentioned earlier with the clock and positioning of the platform contributed. Barbara's fine bench of 193 lbs was good for 4th place. In the 198 lb. class, we watched USA's veteran lifter Holly Oxford easily make her opener of 237 lbs. She went for bigger weights, but no problem, her opening lift was good for the Gold medal. Way to go Holly! In the Supers, the USA had two world competition veterans. World Record holder Deborah Ferrell put on a show going 3 for 3 ending up with a 386 lb bench, good for the Gold medal (again…) and best lifter (again…). Also in this class was one of the true team sweethearts, Paulette Calhoun, who went 2 for 3, winning the Silver medal with a bench of 215 lbs. This great effort by the American Women's Master 1 team earned them a 2nd place team trophy and Deborah Ferrell won 1st place in the best lifter competition. The first American Men's Master 3 (60+ yr-old) competitor was veteran lifter Ivan Zwick in the 148 lb weight class. Ivan was really ready to compete this day. Ivan went 3 for 3 (!!!!!), finishing with a 287 lb. bench, good for the Silver medal! In the 198 lb weight class, USA had 2 lifters, Bill Phillips and Bill Lindsey. This was probably the tightest competition in the entire week, only 11 lbs separated 1st thru 5th place! World bench competition newcomer Bill Lindsey was steady, going 3 for 3 and ended up with the Gold, edging out the 2nd and 3rd place finishers by body weight criteria, all with lifts of 391 lbs. World record holder and multiple time world champion, 69 year-old Bill Phillips, narrowly missed his 3rd attempt for the gold and ended up 4th place with a lift of 386 lbs. In the 220 lb class USA's Terry White had some problems with all three attempts and unfortunately missed them all. Terry is a strong lifter and his opening attempt would have been good for the silver. This was good experience for Terry and we hope to see more from him in the future. In the 242 lb weight class, veteran world competitor Clifford Tallman was again the man to beat and no one did. Though Cliff managed to only get his opener, a huge attempt of 441 lbs, it was good for the Gold medal! Cliff is a real team player, and he just seems to be getting better with age. Although the American Men's Master 3 team had only 5 lifters, they placed an impressive 3rd in the team competition. Friday's competition started with the Men's Master 2 (50-59 yr-old) category. The first lifter for the USA was World Record holder and defending champion Larry Miller in the 165 lb weight class. Larry made his opener of 441 easily, but fell just short on some huge attempts. Larry's easy opener was still far ahead of his competition and the Larry and the USA team got its first Gold medal of the day. Next up was the 181 lb. class with two USA lifters, Stephen Harms and Mike Bridges. Stephen Harms led it off by making his opener of 364 lbs, good for 7th in a large field of competitors. Next up was multiple time world powerlifting champion Mike Bridges. Mike, the world record holder in the 3-lift bench press faced off with the world record holder in the single-lift bench press. Mike's second attempt of 507 was good enough to win the Gold medal. Mike's third attempt for the world single-lift record fell short. Great lifting! In the 220 lb class, team USA again had two lifters, veteran competitors Charles Turco and Dana Rosenzweig. With 13 lifters, this was tied for the largest group of lifters in any class. Dana Rosenzweig made a fine lift of 452 lbs. on his second attempt, which was good for 6th place. Chuck Turco had a powerful lift of 474 lbs on his third attempt and was only 11 lbs off of the winning lift, but had to settle for 4th place in this tight competition. The next weight class again had two USA lifters In the 242 lb class, veterans Floyd Givens and Pat Cannon. Floyd Givens had a fine lift of 452 lbs. on his third attempt and settled for 5th in a field of 10 lifters. Pat Cannon took care of business in going 3 for 3 and securing third place for the Bronze medal with a big 490 lb. bench. The 275 lb weight class had American lifters Ron Beuch and Brad Klinger. Ron looked strong, going 2 for 3 and ended up with a fine 463 lb bench good for 6th place. Next up was 7-time defending world champion and World Record holder Brad Klinger. Brad went 3 for 3 and ended up with a huge world record lift of 608 lbs, not only securing his 8th consecutive world title, but blew away the field in the best lifter competition. Next came the Master 2 Supers with 3-time defending champion and World Record holder Frank Beeler. Frank's second attempt of 579 was good for the Gold medal and he narrowly missed his 3rd attempt of 601 to up his world record. The American Men's Master 2 team was just edged out and had to settle for 2nd over all, and Brad Klinger was 1st and Larry Miller was 3rd in the best lifter competition. Friday afternoon also saw the start of the Men's Master 1 (40-49 yr-old) competition. The first USA lifter was Jay Helms in the 132 lb class. Jay unfortunately could not get any of his attempts passed, his opener would have been good for the silver. In the 181 lb class, USA's defending world champion Andy Furmas was in for a real battle. Andy made his 457 lb opener, but missed the second attempt of 474. Andy came back strong with his third attempt for the gold, but to the amazement of all watching, his attempt got two red lights (after the previous lifter got a very shaky attempt passed). So Andy had to settle for the Silver medal in questionable judging. Andy showed a lot of class in this turmoil and, as always, was a great ambassador for USA powerlifting. Saturday, the final day of lifting saw two USA competitors in the 220's, lifter/coach Kevin Farley and Mike Farrenteli. Kevin Farley went 2 for 3 ending up with a 446, but that was out of the medals this day in this field of 13 competitors. Mike Farrenteli was in for a tough fight, but he was up to the task. Mike looked great going 3 for 3 and hit a powerful 551 on his third attempt to take the Gold medal home for team USA. In the 242's, veteran lifter Dave Doan was going to have to be near his best against tough competition. Dave nailed his first two lifts, but still needed to come through under pressure on his 3rd lift. Dave came through big time and nailed his third attempt to win the Gold medal with one of the biggest lifts of the entire competition, 601 lbs. The 275's saw two USA lifters, Collin Rhodes and Byron Nichols. Collin looked like the man to beat, but all three of his attempts got red lighted. Too bad for one of the strongest men in the competition. World competition new comer Byron Nichols hit his second lift then went for the gold on his third attempt but it didn't happen that day. Byron's big 2nd attempt of 562 lbs. was good for a spot on the platform and the Silver medal. The Supers had defending world champion Dan Gaudreau for the USA. Dan hit his opener with a powerful bench of 628 lbs. Dan then went really big in his next two attempts, but the 628 was good for the last Gold medal of the competition. The American Men's Master 1 team placed respectable 2nd over all and Dave Doan was 2nd in the best lifter competition. 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 effort. When it came time for our turn to compete, we were treated like the most special person in the world. The coaches (with fellow lifters helping out) worked with us in every aspect; weigh-ins, warm-ups, equipment, strategy and nerves. This is not an easy task with so many different lifters and personalities. For every USA Gold medal, we were all proud to face our flag and sing along with the Star Spangled Banner. Let's support the USAPL and put together a strong team for the 2008 World Masters Bench Championships in Bratislava.     |
Contest Photos
Thanks to Frank Beeler for all photos                    |