Powerlifting championships Thompson does it again Sarah Thompson with her latest prize 3 gold medals for Sarah in Australia Winning power lifting champi- onships has become routine for Belleville's Sarah Thompson. Despite being almost twice as old as some of her competitors Thompson won three gold medals at the World Powerlifting cham- pionships for the blind in Perth, Australia. Thompson, a young 72 years of age, added to her extensive tro- phy collection by winning the deadlift, squat and bench press at the championships. Standing S4:" and weighing in at 166 pounds, Thompson won the squat with a lift of 81.5 kilo- grams (192.5 pounds), the bench (45kg, 991bs.) and deadlift (117.5kg, 2591bs.). Competing against 21 other athletes Thompson was the star of the show in Australia. She owns provincial, Cana- dian, U.S. and world records in power lifting, although she didn't even begin lifting weights until seven years ago. Thompson turned to sports 16 years ago when she lost her sight following a stroke. She first began competing in track and field events (winning gold medals along the way) 10 years ago but then switched to weightlifting. After pumping iron for a year Thompson began competing in- ternationally. She's competed throughout Canada and the United States as well as Mexico, and Australia. She works out twice a week at the Apollo Barbell Club and cred- its coach Bob Walt for much of her success. "I work one-on-one with Bob. He's my private coach. Most peo- ple aren't fortunate enough to j have someone work with them one-on-one all the time. It's cer- tainly been a big help to me," says Thompson. To compete in Australia Thompson had to spend over $2,000 of her own money. She says she wouldn't have been able to compete had it not been for the efforts of^ the Belleville Lions Club. "They certainly helped me out financially. Without them I couldn't have gone to Australia," said Thompson. Thompson says she has con- sidered retiring a few times "but somebody always knocks some sense into me and I keep at it," she says. o ?*- > c