[A LETTER FROM OUR CHAIRMAN] You will be reading about the accomplishments of our athletes


at the 2012 Olympic Games in London later in this magazine. This issue of our magazine is dedicated to them, as it should be. All of our athletes performed very well under the conditions they faced and deserve our warmest praise for their courageous efforts. Nonetheless, behind each athlete stood a team of supporters who helped them prior to, and at, the Games, and I want to mention some of those folks here. However, let’s start with a brief recounting of the accomplishments of our athletes, our ultimate heroes. Holley Mangold sustained an injury immediately before leaving


for the Games, which she promptly reported. The USOC medical staff examined her and felt there was a good chance she could be fully ready on the day of her competition. Given that prognosis and the lateness of the injury, an alternate was not feasible and Holley, who did not recover as had been hoped, battled valiantly to make the total she did make and secure 10th place in London. Kendrick Farris had some ups and downs this past year, but he


concluded the competition at the Games by equaling his best recent total, making his highest ever clean in competition and coming close to making his lifetime best jerk and total. So, all in all, he had another fine outing at his second Olympic Games, finishing in 10th place. Sarah Robles had the day of her life at the biggest meet of


her life; something many dream about but fewer make happen. She accumulated three personal records after some misses that put such an excellent outcome in doubt. That wonderful lifting earned her 7th place overall, the highest placement of any of our athletes this time out, and she deserves our congratulations for this outstanding performance.


We also expected that our athletes could


feel more confident if they had access to their own coaches; coaches who helped them get to the Games in the first place. The personal coaches of these athletes, Mark Cannella, Kyle


Pierce and Joe Micela, respectively, deserve considerable praise for their contributions to the excellent performances of


their


athletes. All of them showed a great ability to comfort and support their athletes through the pressure-filled days leading up to the Games and the competition itself. All made some gutsy choices when it came to weights, something that would have been hard for any coach who did not know those athletes as well as they do. And that is only one of the many reasons we at USA Weightlifting felt very strongly that they needed to be there. We also expected that our athletes could feel more confident if they had access to their own coaches; coaches who helped them get to the Games in the first place. USAW felt the opportunity to be in the spotlight of the Olympic Games was an honor richly earned by these coaches,


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A TEAM OF WINNERS EVEN WITHOUT MEDALS BY ARTIE DRECHSLER


a small token of recognition and appreciation for the endless hours and untold energy they spent in helping their athletes to reach the Games in top form. We salute these dedicated coaches. So strongly did we feel about the need for these coaches to be at the Games that the USAW picked up the entire tab for their trips that was not covered by the lone coaching spot granted to us by the USOC (which itself was strictly limited in delegation size by the London Organizing Committee). The coaches were able to share the credential, with each possessing it for a few days during the Games. We also supported 10 athletes with monthly stipends of between


$400 and $700 throughout 2012. This of course is not a lot of money, but it is a lot more than the zero dollars athletes received from the USAW in the run-up to the 2008 Games, and we expect to be able to do a lot better in 2016. It should be noted that each Olympian received a grant from the USOC of $8,000, and the USAW provided a small per diem for incidental expenses (in addition to the transportation, food, lodging, apparel and other amenities that were provided by the USOC and/or organizers of the Games). In addition to our office staff, who worked tirelessly to help


our athletes and coaches, the unsung heroes in this story were Zygmunt Smalcerz and Peter Roselli. These men expected to be Head Coach and Team Leader, respectively, for the Games, as that was what had been applied for to the USOC and what we believed had been required of us. However, we learned during this past year that this was not required. At that point, we made the decision that while we wanted to have Zygmunt and Peter in London for the invaluable support they could provide to our team, but if we were faced with special limitations on the number of coaches we could have backstage, priority would be given to the personal coaches. It turned out that such limitations did arise (despite IWF rules that would have permitted Zygmunt and Peter backstage) and only the personal coaches could serve. When I informed Zygmunt and Peter about this, both were


understandably disappointed, but both were complete gentlemen and agreed to support priority for the personal coaches. Both devoted prodigious energy toward our Olympic effort over many months; Zygmunt in the gym and competitions and Peter behind the scenes working through the endless details that needed to be attended to so that we could assure the personal coaches would be able to get backstage (an issue that was in doubt even on the eve the competition). In the end, neither Zygmunt nor Peter were able to assist in the way they would have wanted, or to enjoy the full Olympic experience, even though both men played such important roles in helping us earn our Olympic spots and otherwise support our athletes. I deeply thank Zygmunt and Peter on behalf of USA Weightlifting for their sacrifices. As you can see, it took a team to get us to the Games and back. We are truly fortunate to have had such an outstanding one.


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