Olympic weightlifting Encyclopedia 14

Today there are many athletes in all of the countries of the world who, with the proper dedication and intelligent training, have the potential to become the champions of the future. Perhaps the only real obstacle that Americans and athletes from other nations who have not been leaders in weightlifting in recent years) now face is the possibility of inheriting a massive inferiority complex from many of their immediate predecessors. Athletes who believe they cannot win will not win. They will not train the way they must to be champions and they will not be inspired by the infinite energy that comes from the dream of being a champion. But to those few who dare to be great, to undertake the challenge of meeting the best in the world on their own terms and with all of their advantages, will go the highest accolades and the greatest personal sense of achievement.

It took great courage for the first American international lifters to venture to Europe in the 1930s and to return victorious (the myth of European invincibility was at least as strong then as was the myth of Eastern European invincibility until recently - when weightlifters from other parts of Europe and Asia mounted a serious challenge to the Eastern Europeans). Men like Tony Terlazzo and John Davis will forever be remembered in the history of American weightlifting as those who led the way - those who had the courage to challenge the World’s best and to win.

Now the opportunity presents itself for a new generation of Americans and other athletes from all of the nations of the world to take up a similar challenge, to bring themselves and their nations to positions of glory in the world of weightlifting. It will not be easy and it will not come quickly, but for those few who have the courage to accept the challenge of that glorious effort, victory will be all the sweeter. They will be the weightlifting heroes of the new millennium.