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Tower of strengthGeorgia weightlifter pursuing goal of becoming world's strongest woman
Profile: Cheryl Haworth (CNNfyi) -- When Cheryl Haworth walked into the Paul Anderson/Howard Cohen Weightlifting Center in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, four years ago with her father, she wasn't dreaming of gold medals. She just wanted to be a better softball player. But the second Haworth picked up a few weights, Michael Cohen saw something special in the then-13-year-old girl. "She was absolutely suited perfectly for Olympic weightlifting," said Cohen, who became Haworth's personal coach and is now also her head coach on the U.S. National and Olympic women's team. "So we pushed her toward the Olympic movement."
All the pushing and lifting has propelled Haworth to Sydney. She is now the U.S. record holder in every heavyweight Olympic lifting category, and she has a chance to win a medal against the world's best at the 2000 Games. "I'm very excited to be on the Olympic team, especially the first weightlifting team for women," Haworth said. While men's weightlifting has been part of the modern Olympic program since 1904, no corresponding women's event existed until this year. But there is an active circuit of professional female weightlifters, particularly in Europe. In between her studies at Savannah Arts Academy, Haworth has earned considerable success -- and prize money -- weightlifting. In addition to three consecutive national championships, Haworth has received medals at the 1999 World Championship (third in the snatch) and Pan American Games (first overall). She's also placed second overall at the last two Junior World Championships. Haworth says she has no complaints. "Getting paid is nice, and you get to travel for free," she said. "It's just a lot of fun, and after being in it for a while, some of my best friends are (involved) in the sport." At 5 feet 9 inches and more than 300 pounds, Haworth stands head and shoulders above all other female weightlifters in the United States. She's broken and re-broken the national record several times during the last few years. At the U.S. National Championships in March, Haworth re-set all three heavyweight marks -- 264 pounds (120 kilograms) in the snatch, 319 pounds (145 kilograms) in the clean and jerk and 583 pounds (265 kilograms) overall. Yet Haworth isn't one-dimensional -- not athletically given her flexibility (she does splits) and speed, and not personally given her artistic talents. Haworth said she is only tied to weightlifting as long as she wants to be. "As long as I keep enjoying it, I'll do it," she said. "If there's ever a point I realize I need a little bit of a break, if I don't enjoy it, I'll stop." Haworth is a strong supporter of weightifting, saying it can benefit young and old alike. "I think weightlifting is a good idea," she said. "It makes you fast; it makes you flexible; and it makes you stronger. All the muscles are involved, and it takes a lot of concentration." Cohen said he believes his star pupil will make history in Sydney, and in many years to come after that. "She's got a great work ethic. She wants to be the best -- and she'll stop at nothing to be the best," Cohen said. "I expect her to medal at the 2000 Olympics and to be untouchable in the next few Olympics."
Haworth relishes the idea of being the world's strongest woman. "Weightlifting is one of the few sports that you can really say is the 'ultimate sport,' " she said. "It's not like soccer or softball, which are sports that take a lot of skills, but what are you if you win? "If you win in weightlifting, you're the strongest -- period. That's a really neat thing to be able to say." RELATED SITES: USA Weightlifting | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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