Sunday 20 April 2008

2008 IPF World Masters Bench Press - Bratislava









I've just got back from four days in Bratislava for the world championships and I had a quite fantastic experience. It's too much for one blog entry, so I'm going to break it down into three separate entries over the next day or so. In coming blogs I'll write about the people and the place, but I'll make a start with the competitive side of things. But first the pictures...

The Venue, Hotel Dom Sportu, from the outside; the competition arena; the opening ceremony (note the GB spelling error!); the warm up area; me in action; and a couple of snaps of Cliff and me.

Before writing anything else, if any of my fellow competitors stumble across this blog I'd love to hear from you. Contact me on Fitflett@aol.com . If you have any pictures, send them to me and I'll be happy to add them to the blog. I've also got lots of pictures I haven't posted, which I'll be happy to email to anyone that asks.

I flew Manchester to Bratislava on Wednesday and checked into my room at the Hotel Nivy. I room-shared with Cliff Haynes, a great bloke who won Britain's only silver medal in Germany last year and was once again our top performer in 2008 - only this year he only missed out on gold on bodyweight after tying the Japanese winner on 155, only to be 200 grams heavier. That's a couple of sneezes and the sweat on your underpants! Or, more accurately, his! Next year Cliff, next year... It would have been this year if he didn't have to retake his opener!

The hotel was fully booked - all 200 or so rooms, the majority occupied by hungry powerlifters flying in from all points of the globe. The hotel responded to this situation by having one chef in the kitchen, one waiter to work the whole room, and one barman. Cue chaos, half hour waits to even ORDER, and when we eventually did, it was turkey or pork.

I was competing on Friday, but when you're not lifting you're helping other team members out. I did Alex Lee's shirts and Alex did Britain proud by winning bronze in the M3 75 kilos class with a great lift of 155 kilos. Alex struggled to make the 75 class, only to end up lifting more than the winner of the next class up! If he had not made the weight, he would have won a gold medal!! One of the paradoxes of this great sport.

Before Alex lifted, the women's championships were held. It always seems odd and rather insulting that the womens event is held BEFORE the opening ceremony each year. My two great pals from the 2007 event in Germany, Deborah and Michelle, both lifted superbly and won gold medals in their respective classes. Michelle lost something like 7 pounds in the last 24 hours to make the weight. Deborah opened with the heaviest lift of any woman at the championships, 165, to win her class, before attempting a world record 197.5. Yes, you're reading that right, 435 pounds! And if she'd had a little longer to recover from shoulder surgery, she's have got it. As I'm sure she will next year, if not sooner.

It was Deborah who inspired me to my 200 bench last month. We struck a bet in Germany as to who would break through the barrier first. I think the only person more surprised than her that I got there first was me! She's an awesome lifter and a great person.

After Alex has lifted, I was accorded a great honour. There were only three Danish lifters present. One of them was 87 years old and only took the sport up aged 70, when he was "no longer able to chase the ladies", in his own words. They had no coach, and my friend Hans Jorgen Jorgensen asked me to be the unofficial Danish coach. After checking with British lifter Mike Edwards, who was competing in the same class as Hans and who graciously agreed to let me assist a competitor, I coached Hans and, although he was down on his normal numbers (as many lifters were this year) he won the gold medal with his third and final lift - after failing the same weight with his first two attempts.

Well done Hans! Title defended. Great stuff. I then turned my attention to Finn Knudsen in the M3 100 kilos class. Finn the Dane was battling with two Finns from Finland for the title. He secured second place with 182.5 and we agreed to try a huge 192.5 pb attempt to try and get gold. Finn just missed it, but I hope the near miss motivates him to get into the 190s next time. One of the Finns then did a 200 to win the title, and Finn was a gallant runner up to the Finn.

On the Friday, it was my turn. After struggling to get the weight down, the efforts of getting four shirts on the day before, and generally running about here, there and everywhere stripped the weight off me and I weighed in at 99.2.

I decided to open with 192.5. Bear in mind that the British record had been 190 for the last 8 years until my day of days in Solihull, but I needed 192.5 on the bar to get a touch in my main shirt and there was no point in a 'safe' opener. I was never going to medal anyway so what the hell. First attempt, I pressed the bar but got a 2:1 no lift for downward movement. Second time, I left the weight the same and got it - just! It felt much heavier than it did at the British and I knew then that I just wasn't in the same shape. Still, I had successfully opened heavier than ever before, got a lift on the board, and I decided to try for a new British record 202.5. There was no point in not trying for it. It was scary heavy at the top when the loaders let go and the shock to the system literally made my body convulse momentarily. I got it down, got it half way up, but couldn't finish it off. Just not strong enough on the day. It happens! At least I know I can do 192.5 on a so so day and I know what 202.5 feels like. But as I walked off the platform, 227.5 seemed a long way away. But go back 12 months, when I was just returning from injury, and 140 seemed a long way off.

There will be smarter and more intense training and there will be better days!

In my next entry, I'll post about the 'off piste' side to the championships and reflect on how other British lifters performed.

One last thing for this post, though. As I was going out on Friday night, Hans and Finn called me over and Hans gave me one of his Danish tracksuit tops as a thank you for helping out. What a lovely gesture. I shall wear it with pride. As I did on Friday night, complete with kilt. And Bratislavans were no doubt wondering who the mad Dane in the check skirt was.

No comments: