Carrying a heavy load
BALDWIN— Chris Gilman is racing against time and sees 2012 as the finish line.
That's the year the Olympic Games will be held in London, and Gilman hopes to be a member of the U.S. weightlifting team.
"I know I still have a long way to go," he said. "But weightlifting is a dying sport in this country. ... It's not the 1960s anymore.
"If I keep at it and keep improving, I can still get there. Ask any dedicated weightlifter. The Olympics is the ultimate goal."
A 2001 A-CValley High School graduate and a former Edinboro University football player, Gilman will turn 25 in a few weeks. He trains when he can, but is faced with a busy work schedule these days.
Gilman is a middle school health teacher in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District, coaches defensive ends for the high school football team there and serves as an assistant middle school wrestling coach.
He resides in Hilliards.
"I'm back to lifting five or six days a week now,"he said. "It was a lot tougher during football season, when we had to do a lot of game planning and film watching.
"Wrestling is more of an individual sport, not so involved in terms of preparation."
Gilman competed in the 2007 American Open last weekend in Birmingham, Ala., placing sixth in the 77 kilogram (169 pound) division.
He snatched 110 kilos, or 242 pounds, and clean-and-jerked 140 kilos, or 320 pounds.
His next major competition will be the U.S. Nationals, slated for Feb. 29 through March 2 in Columbus, Ohio.
"If I can get my total up to 260 or 265 kilos in that meet, I'd be thrilled,"Gilman said. "I've got three full months to train for that event.
"Weightlifting is a tough sport in which to gauge progress. Sometimes, your total can jump high in a month's time. Other times, you peak out and it takes a longer period of time to do better."
To win his weight class at the U.S. Nationals, Gilman estimates he would have to snatch 140 kilos and clean-and-jerk 180.
"I'm clearly not at that point yet,"he said. "But I have time. I'll be 29 when the 2012 Olympics arrive. If I'm going, that's my time."
