Honorary Irish men win the crowd over

IN THE sedate surroundings of the RDS Concert Hall, noise is the currency of the week. Powerlifting has become the unexpected hit of the World Games. The lack of Irish competitors hasn’t stopped droves of people being attracted

Something within the grunts and groans of this sport infuses a frenzied excitement into the crowd. The public lives every nuance and supports each competitor. Gavin Walker, the MC, helps. Any time he notices an athlete struggling with a lift he urges in his north English accent, “up, up, up,” and encouraging the crowd to become even more vociferous.

When American lifter Michael Dundey takes to the stage, the place erupts. The young lad from California is about to attempt a bench press of 115kg. To put that into context, Dundey weighs 64kg. For those of you not metrically-minded, 115kg is roughly 250 pounds. Walker gets the crowd going in his indomitable style, but to no avail.

Dundey’s face reddens but he can’t lift it. “What a valiant effort,” Walker says, as applause rings out.

We also have Nelson Cereon from El Salvador. A couple of days ago, the El Salvadoran first lady visited the concert hall to support her athletes. Cereon must have remembered that fact as he easily presses 82.5kg.

Other athletes come and go before it is Michael Dundey’s turn again. Walker gets the crowd going and we witness one of the cleanest presses of the day. No need for judge consultation. A delighted Dundey jumped from the bench and waved to the crowd.

Powerlifting has brought them to their feet in the RDS. You could walk into the concert hall and think every athlete is Irish, such has been the noise levels. If Dundey was the crowd favourite in early morning, Kiwi Brett Sutherland was the adopted Irishman later on in the afternoon.

Brett’s Special Olympics career actually began as a track athlete, but with his build and wood-working background, he decided on powerlifting just five years ago. Now, here he was, centre of the world. Like Dundey earlier in the day, Sutherland, with total disregard for his own body mass, pressed 20kg and then 30kg above his own body weight.

Power-lifting is a child of weight-training. born in the late sixties. As a Special Olympics discipline, it is new, but no less successful.

Maybe because some of the stories will burn so brightly in our memories. Sergio Williams is an athlete from Trinidad and Tobago. In Trinidad, like a few other countries, minds are tuned to the imperial system.

Sergio’s coach, believing the weights were measured in pounds rather than kg, decided Sergio would start at 80. The same thing happened a Danish lifter a few days ago. She lost out because of the sport’s metric system.

But, the Games are all about changing hearts. The kindness of judges allowed Sergio to start at 47.5kg. He failed the first time, but succeed at the second attempt.

A cheer gathered that was almost as loud as for Dundey. A dancing Sergio leapt from the bench, grabbing his coach before waving to the crowd. Another adopted Irishman.