| 89-year-old Sydney Paul is a Special Person“Honour your Creator whoever you may conceive him to be. Eat right, sleep early and get involved in weightlifting.”By Michael BenjaminHe is 89 years old, but his striking good looks coupled with a supple athletic physique belie that fact. While hereditary circumstances would explain the good looks, Sydney Paul, aka ‘Skipper’ would tell anyone wishing to know, that he has honed his athletic physique through years of commitment and selfless dedication to the sport he loves. Indeed, Paul spent sixty-eight of those years ‘pumping iron,’ the term used for the noble, demanding sport of weightlifting.Weightlifting is an art where the competitor attempts a maximum single lift of a barbell loaded with weight plates, in lifts categorized as ‘clean and jerk’ and ‘snatch.’ The clean and jerk is one of two current Olympic events (the other being the snatch). It is a highly technical lift that is known as ‘the king of lifts’ because more weight can be lifted above one’s head as compared to any other known weightlifting technique. The essence of the snatch is to lift a barbell from the platform to locked arms overhead in a smooth continuous movement.Sydney Paul collecting his Guyana Olympic Association award In Guyana, weightlifting has been relegated to the back burner and one is hardly likely to hear heated discussions surrounding the feats of its participants. In fact, folks are so ignorant of the intricacies of weightlifting that the historical aspects would fail to hold their attention for more than five or maybe ten minutes.This may be so, but once there are discussions and debates about weightlifting, the name Sydney Paul is bound to surface.Born August 3, 1919, Paul decided to be a weightlifter at the age of 20 after observing the feats of the late Bacchus brothers, Osman and Eteem. These were the local entrepreneurs of the sport and they owned the only weightlifting gym, situated on North Road, between Wellington and Camp Streets. The brothers had invested in a 500-lb York exercise machine and everyone who was anyone ventured into this gym to learn the intricacies of the sport.As a youth, ‘Skipper,’ as Paul is fondly called by his charges, possessed a chiseled physique and it did not take much to woo him into weightlifting. “We learned to perfect the snatch, clean and jerk, bench presses and other lifts to hone specific parts of the body enabling us to become proficient in the different lifts,NFL Jerseys Wholesale,” he remembers.‘Skipper’ enjoyed the training sessions at the Bacchus gym but he yearned for the day when he would have been able to construct his own training facility. The problem, though,Air Max 97 NZ, was that he had neither the money nor the contacts to own the kind of machine like the Bacchuses.This was where his creative juices began to flow. He built a small gym at his home in Waterloo Street, South Cummingsburg, and noted that he could not purchase the quality ‘Weider’ equipment that the established facility had, thus the decision to improvise. “I bought a length of steel pipe, a few pounds of lead, two truck wheels and a few cogs and constructed a machine that served my purpose,Wholesale Air Max Tn,” he intimated.After constructing the gym, Paul spent days mulling over an appropriate name for his facility. Fate was the decider. “I had this admiration for a popular strongman who worked in a circus. His name was Eugene Sandow,” Paul reminisces. He said that Sandow would tie lengths of rope on two horses and then tie the two ends around his body while the two animals simultaneously pulled from the east and west, respectively, trying to dislodge him. “The horses, strong as they were could not shift Sandow from his position,” Paul revealed. Added to this, Sandow performed miraculous feats at the circus where he worked. “He would lift a 900-pound elephant with relative ease, said Paul. So impressed was Paul with the feats of this circus strongman that he decided to christen the gym after him.Following the establishment of the gym,Air Max 97 Silver Womens, opportunities arose.A young Sydney Paul (fourth left standing) poses with members of the country’s first Weightlifting Association - in the 1940s. Front row (holding trophy) is Cyphius Whitney. (Photo courtesy of Sydney Paul)“A weightlifting enthusiast who had bought a weightlifting machine similar to that of the Bacchus brothers was on the verge of migrating to the USA and decided to sell his equipment. I immediately grabbed up the offer,” Paul remembers. He cannot remember the exact price he paid for the machine. This was the inauguration of the facility that even up to today, provides meaningful activity for weightlifters.The construction of the Sandow Weightlifting Gym triggered off enthusiasm from among the few persons in the fraternity. “Soon after I formed my gym, the Bacchus brothers joined forces with another weightlifting enthusiast, Dr Cephus Whitney, and decided to form a Weightlifting Association.” As such the British Guiana Weightlifting Association (BGWA) was born.The establishment of a local association triggered a boom and before very long young enthusiasts started to invest in such activities, enhancing the infrastructure. The next step was to formalize local activities with the international body. Paul intimated that the executives of the BGWA then sought affiliation status from its parent body, the Federation Internationale de Halterophile et Culturiste (FIHC), a French entity, now incorporated into the International Weightlifting Federation.Those were the good old days. Paul now examines the current situation and experiences moments of chagrin. “The sport is experiencing great challenges,” he says. He also cites a lack of interest demonstrated by the present administration in nurturing new talent to the sport. “We need to incorporate youth involvement as well as create more gyms for them to practice their skills,” he laments. Paul also feels that the time has long passed for a more concerted effort to incorporate youngsters into the sport. “History has proven that the children from the rural areas are more versed in the adaptations of the sport,” Paul informed.He believes that local sports administrators should join forces with the executives of the local weightlifting Association in the countrywide promotion of the sport. “It is very sad that even our sports administrators are demonstrating ignorance of the intricacies of the sport.”The weightlifting enthusiast is confident that provided weightlifting executives are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices while employing the appropriate initiatives, the sport can rise, like the mighty Phoenix, to its rightful place among the other disciplines.During his illustrious years of participation, Paul has experienced the fluctuating circumstances that have led to the sport’s dismal standing among the other local disciples. “The situation will only change with the concerted efforts of all stakeholders,’ he opines.He has done more than enough for the sport he loves. The ‘Sandow’ Gym in East LaPenitence remains,Cheap Nike Air Max 1, a fitting sign of years of love and dedication for the sport. His feats were duly recognized. In 1998, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bestowed upon him an IOC Award. He is also the recipient of a medal from the National Weightlifting Federation in Hungary. The Guyana Olympic Association has chipped in with an award for his contribution to the development of weightlifting. Paul has stored these accolades in a small glass cabinet that conspicuously adorns his living room. They represent years of dedicated service to the sport.Yes, his name may not trigger the spirited debates as those of former WBC welterweight boxing champion, Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis or West Indies batting star, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but rest assured his feats in the weightlifting fraternity are just as important and cherished. Obviously, Paul feels constrained to offer words of wisdom to his fellow Guyanese. “Honour your Creator whoever you may conceive him to be. Eat right,Nike Tns Sale, sleep early and get involved in weightlifting.” |
