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THE TAKANO ATHLETICS NEWSLETTER VOL. 2, No. 3
This free newsletter is to inform you of events, and thoughts regarding the training of weightlifters and the incorporation of the Olympics lifts and their derivatives into the training of athletes.
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HAPPY NEW YEAR TO OUR READERSHIP! HERE’S TO A GREAT 2009!
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HOW I BECAME THE SRI LANKA OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTING COACH
The recent results of the Sri Lanka National Weightlifting Championships brought up a pleasant memory from the 23rd Olympiad held in Los Angeles in 1984. A few members of the U.S. weightlifting community probably remember it, but for most of you it's probably a new story and one that I think that you might find interesting.
For those that might have forgotten or never knew, the L.A. Olympiad was a watershed event for the Olympic movement. The 1972 Munich Games were the scene of the murder of several members of the Israeli Olympic team, and the 1976 Montreal Games were characterized by the boycott by the African nations as well as out of control spending. The 1980 Moscow Games were considered a political disaster because of the boycott by the U.S.A and a significant number of its allies. Furthermore the Games were losing money and the only two bidders for the 1984 games were Tehran and Los Angeles. When the IOC met in 1978 to select the site of the 1984 games, Tehran was immediately disregarded and L.A. became the winner by default.
Because of the USA boycott of the 1980 Games, not to mention the uncertainty over the reliability of newly implemented anti-doping technology, the 1984 Games became a political issue with the Soviets and their satellites opting to boycott. This announcement was made in April of 1984. For some nations, like Sri Lanka, this announcement would influence their participation in the Games.
Some nations saw the boycott by the Soviets as an opportunity to place their athletes higher in the Games, perhaps with a chance for medals that were previously out of reach. The Soviet dominated sports saw an increase in participants from nations that normally would not have placed very high.
Probably because of a lack of capable athletes or a lack of finances or a combination of the two, the island nation of Sri Lanka had all along never planned on attending the L.A. Games. The announcement of the Soviet boycott, however, convinced Sri Lankan leaders that they might be perceived by the U.S. as Soviet sympathizers. Not realizing that the U.S. Government has no connection with the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Sri Lankans felt that their own failure to participate might lead to a loss of U.S. foreign aid.
Thus it turned out that a Sri Lankan team of two yachtsmen, one swimmer and one weightlifter was assembled and sent to Los Angeles about six weeks before the late July opening of the Games.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles where they would be housed by members of the local Sri Lankan community, they sought training facilities. When they contacted Jim Schmitz, who was serving as the director of the weightlifting venue, he sent the lifter, Sunil Da Silva and his chauffeur/translator Joseph to my gym at Van Nuys High School.
Sunil spoke a little English, but he understood "weightlifting" and gestures, and of course, Joseph could fill in the blanks. He brought some workouts with him that had been written by his coach at home with some input from Lyn Jones of Australia whom he had trained with periodically. So Sunil, a 52 kg. lifter, started training at my gym along with Albert Hood who I'd coached on to the U.S. Olympic Team and several other gym members.
It was inevitable that sooner or later Sunil would seek some advice since he was used to being coached, and I couldn't help but make some modifications in his training as I detected areas that needed to be changed. After a couple of weeks of training at Van Nuys, it was inevitable that Sunil realized that he would need a "stunt coach" (my term for a coach that steps in at the competition to take over warm-up and weight calling duties) to work with him at the actual Olympic competition. Both Sunil and Joseph knew by this time that I would be serving as assistant training hall manager and would be available for all the competitions. Thus it came to pass that Joseph asked me if I could please coach Sunil in the Games. I was flattered, but somewhat leery of whether or not I would be violating some protocol. I finally agreed with the condition that I be recognized as the Sri Lankan Olympic weightlifting coach.
Joseph felt that this would not be a problem, and I was invited to a dinner to recognize the Sri Lanka delegation at the home of Dr. Walter Jayasinghe, the leader of the Sri Lankan community in Los Angeles. After a sumptuous dinner and several speeches in Sinhalese, I think I was named the Sri Lankan Olympic weightlifting coach.
Shortly thereafter we switched training to the newly opened Training Hall at Loyola Marymount University in Westchester, the weightlifting venue for the 23rd Olympiad.
It wasn't long before word spread around the venue that I would be coaching a "foreign athlete" in our Olympics. Jim Schmitz was hesitant about me going forward with this, offering up the possible scenario of litigation should I call for a weight that Sunil could not negotiate and therefore denying him a place in the standings. Wow, an international lawsuit over weightlifting? Since the Big Red Machine would not be participating and the Games were beginning to be characterized as the "feel good" Olympics, I proposed that in the interests of good hospitality I should coach Sunil.
After a while, no one could come up with a good reason why I shouldn't. We proceeded forward.
In the first session of the first day of weightlifting competition I accompanied Sunil to the weigh-in, watched him pick up a Sam the Eagle doll with his lot number on the bottom, watched him weigh in and I wrote down the starting weights we'd previously agreed upon on the expediting card.
I don't remember all the details but I remember that he made two snatches, finishing with a successful 80 kg.. He opened with a 95 kg. clean and jerk and it was a success. Ecstatic that he had come all this way and completed his mission of totaling in the Olympics, he came down off the stage, kneeled and bowed at my feet. And this was live on international television! My lifters never bow at my feet so I was a little inexperienced here. I remember saying, "Get up. You have two more attempts."
Sunil finished with a successful final clean and jerk of 100 kg. and placed 16th out of 20 competitors. The next day I coached Albert in the 56 kg. class. I don't think too many people have coached athletes from two different countries in a single Olympics.
When I filled out the info form for my 20th high school reunion in 1985, under occupation I wrote Sri Lankan Olympic Weightlifting Coach. Everyone thought that was cool. | |
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The Economy Affects Athletes
In December the University of Iowa began dealing with problems that will probably become all too common as the global economy worsens or takes too long to recover. Student athletes at the University complained that the turnover rate among the strength and conditioning staff was too rapid to insure some training continuity for an extended period of time. One athlete complained of having to deal with six different strength and conditioning coaches over a four year period. Tightening athletic budgets have forced rapid turnover with some coaches obviously opting for higher pay at other institutions. Some observers believe that strength and conditioning has too low a priority with the athlete department administration. Whatever the cause I'm sure that most Strength and Conditioning professionals realize that they must be constantly selling their administrations on the benefits of their craft. Unfortunately that is not what many S & C professionals excel at! , but internal politics will undoubtedly take greater hold during times of budgetary crisis.
The effects of the economy are also affecting sports internationally as even Great Britain, the host of the next Olympics, has announced a national sports budget that will severely impact eight Olympic sports. Most host nations increase their sports budgets, but the global economy has affected sponsor donations to UK Sport, the government's funding body for elite sport in Britain. Fencing, handball, shooting, water polo, weightlifting, table tennis, volleyball and wrestling were not provided with any funding figures in the latest release of the sports budget. In Olympic competition, wild card slots are often granted to the host nation to build national interest for the event, but Great Britain may be hard pressed to provide competent representatives if no funding is provided to keep these eight sports solvent. | |
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John Thrush, coach of Melanie Roach, is interviewed on the Takanoathletics.com website
In pursuit of my goal to interview some of the more relevant figures in weightlifting and strength and conditioning, I finally caught up with old friend John Thrush at the North American Open. John has been coaching lifters for over 35 years, coached a number of national champions and has been a top member of the national coaching staff. Until 2008, he had never coached an Olympian. When Melanie Roach made the team this year, John realized his goal of entering that elite circle of Senior International Coaches who had coached an Olympian. John's perspectives on coaching, coaching Melanie and weightlifting general make for an interesting interview. You can listen to this one hour audio in the members section of the Takano Athletics website at www.takanoathletics.com. | | | | | |
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