Weightlifting Competition 2

This is my second "local" weightlifting competition, and although I have been really under the weather this week, I was glad I came out for it. Once again, the event was held this morning at the Joe Bar Market area, and sponsored by Mr. Big, the former Mr. Liberia, whose gym is just down the Old Road from Joe Bar Market Junction.

Same as last time, it was just a bench press competition, using "African weights" (really old machine gears) so the amounts involved were a little approximate (the guys would call out the weights in "African pounds", as in "175 African pounds." To get real weights from overseas is difficult and expensive, and there isn't a lot of money to be made out of starting up a gym.

However, there's no question that these guys are strong! Even using their conservative estimates for the weights, the champions were lifting 2-3 times their own body weight off the bench. Pretty incredible!

Flag Day Weightlifting Competition

I was invited to a weightlifting competition today in Joe Bar market, on the Old Road section of Sinkor. Its a holiday here (flag day) so the gas station was simply taken over, and some guys brought out the equipment from a nearby gym, run by Mr. Big (the large guy in the brown and yellow striped jersey) who is a former Mr. Liberia. He seemed to be the main organizer of the event.

As you can see, there were a lot of people there. It was sort of nice to see all the kids, as I like to think of weightlifting as a healthy way to encourage young people to care about themselves and their health.

As the only non-Liberian present, I was something of a celebrity, and curiosity, and sponsor, and announcer...