At the head of this group is 18 year-old Ian Wilson, whose most recent and possibly biggest success came at the 2012 National Weightlifting Championships in Columbus, Ohio. Totalling 344kg (in the 94kg class) with a 152kg snatch and a second attempt clean and jerk success at 192kg, Ian is an athlete on the rise.
Coming from an active family, at age six Wilson hated his initial contact with weightlifting when his Dad showed him the basics of cleaning and bench pressing in their garage gym. Years later, Wilson came back to that gym as a twelve year-old when he wanted to get bigger and stronger.
“My father and I went to a local meet and I saw Jason Kristal clean and jerk 215kg and I wanted to be strong like him, so my Dad called Butch Curry (1980 Olympian) to teach me the lifts,” he said.
A year later Wilson competed for the first time in the 62kg class, totalling 120kg with a 50kg snatch and a 70kg clean and jerk. How times have changed.
Ian has since won major competitions, including the 2010 Pan American Youth Championships (137+ 170= 307kg total) as well as the 2012 National Weightlifting Championships. However neither of these victories are Wilson’s proudest moments.
“Even though I didn’t win, I’m most proud of my 2nd place at the 2011 Youth World’s because I beat lifters from nations that the US chronically loses to,” he said.
This point is a sore one for the USA, as they have only managed three medals (none of them gold) in weightlifting at the Olympics since 1968. This downward turn has been a far-cry from the glory days of the 1930’s to the 1950’s. In fact, the US’s poor run has been so long that Wilson’s medal was the first ever for a US weightlifter at the Youth World Championships.
At the event, after succeeding in a second attempt snatch at 140kg, Wilson missed his 145kg attempt. This allowed Russian Alexey Kosov to open up a mammoth 29kg (172kg snatch) lead going into the clean and jerk. Wilson then produced a fine display of grit when he stuck his last attempt of 180kg in the clean and jerk to swoop in and snatch (pun) 2nd place after being in 5th going into the second lift.
Wilson pulled off a similar Houdini act at the National’s this year, getting 192kg in the clean and jerk on his second attempt to tie in the total (344kg) with Phil Sabatini, before going on to win on formula basis.
“I love watching someone make a come from behind victory with a last attempt clean and jerk, like Zlatan Vanev would do. It creates so much suspense as a spectator; it's tough if you're the lifter though!” he says, although his results make me think it could possibly all be part of an elaborate plan of his to keep suspense in a meet.
Wilson trains five or six days a week, totally to 15 hours of gym-time. However, unlike the guys at Average Broz Gym where back squatting is at the heart of many sessions, Wilson doesn’t back squat at all.
“I focus on the snatch, clean and jerk and front squat, as well as rarely something else like snatch pulls. However for the most part, I just do the Olympic lifts.” He said.
With their relative success, it would be fair to say that Ian and his father (who guides him in his goals and training) are onto something good.
However, despite success raining down around him and the fanfare that is sure to follow, Wilson is coy about his future in the sport.
“I'm happy to have won the 94kg national title, but I have a lot of improvement to do to be a respected lifter internationally. I'll take lifting as far as I can, but there's no way of knowing where I'll level out, so I don't really know what to expect from my future. I will compete in Guatemala in May at the Junior World’s and try to place as high as possible, but I am not strong enough to win the event right now, however I'll be a Junior until 2014.”
Wilson and his father have mapped out a plan of attack for the year coming, but have looked no further to ensure results come before expectation. Ever conservative about his own prospects, Wilson won’t be drawn into grand designs of gold medals and Olympic glory, simply saying that he wants to do his best despite his auspicious results. To cap it off, the boy from San Francisco has an alternate plan for his future in the case that weightlifting doesn’t work out.
“Most importantly, I want to have a good job when I'm done, which is why I'm planning on getting a university education instead of becoming a full time weightlifter,” he says.
Even with his talents spread out as they are now, there is little doubt as to the dizzy heights that Wilson is capable of reaching in the senior realm of weightlifting. However for now it’s off to the Junior World Championships in May, and only time will tell what happens after that. All I can say is watch this space.
No comments:
Post a Comment