Nalder to attempt Olympic qualifying lifts again

Press, 14 April 1984, Page 76

Nalder to attempt Olympic qualifying lifts again

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Five weeks training in the intensely competitive environment of the Australian Sports Institute almost paid handsome dividends for the Nelson weightlifter, Allister Nalder, last week-end. Only a minor technical infringement stood between Nalder and qualification for the New Zealand Olympic team. Competing in the Australian championships in Melbourne, Nalder was skg from achieving the qualifying standard, and he improved his personal best total by 7.5 kg, only to be ruled out on the ityin the clean and jerk, Nalder lifted 177.5 kg at his first attempt and broke the New Zealand record by skg. He added another skg to the bar which would have given him a total for the two lifts of 325 kg, the standard required for a Games nomination. Nalder lifted the bar into . the squat position but an elbow touched a leg, and the judges disallowed the lift. He was left with the consolation that he had bettered three New Zealand records, and the knowledge 1 that the qualifying standard i is within his grasp. Nalder will have two op- I portunities to better that I standard in Tahiti next i month. He will lift in the i Oceania championships, and then the New Zealand team 1 will compete against the 1 United States Olympic * squad, which will be in < Tahiti. I • But for the minor in- • fringement, Nalder felt sure

that he would have completed the clean and jerk. His training in the next few weeks will be designed to enable him to achieve the target in Tahiti. In the last three months Nalder’s progress has been remarkable. At the end of last year his best total was 300 kg. In January he boosted that to 305 kg and in Sydney two weeks ago added another 7.5 kg. In Melbourne he increased his personal best by another 7.5 kg. An illustration of Nalder’s improvement is that his total last week-end would have earned him the silver medal at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games. The gold medal-winning total, also a Games record, was 325 kg, the total he narrowly failed to make in Melbourne. Nalder competed at Brisbane, but finished sixth with a total of 297.5 kg. ’ The benefits of being able to train twice a day at the . Australian Institute of Sport, and not have to worry about working, was responsible for Nalder’s dramatic improvement. In Canberra he was able to train up to six hours a day, and had full use of the institute’s medical facilities. He will have to cut back his training a little in Nelson while working, but is sure he will be able to improve on his best lifts. “This week I lifted 2.5 kg less in training than what I have done in competition. I should be able to improve in competition, but it will depend: on a number of facThe main variable will be

the heat, which can be quite energy-sapping for weightlifters. “I have lifted in Western Samoa before, and the heat can affect you quite considerably.” Nalder hopes that his improvement may bring him a Sports Foundation grant. It will enable him to spend more time training in New Zealand without having to worry about the expense of returning to Canberra. “It would be good to get together for four or five weeks twice a year with other top lifters and train for the major competitions. We have the coaches in New Zealand to help us. “If we can do that I am

sure we would achieve the same results as I did by going to Australia. But finance is the big thing. It has cost the association here several thousand dollars, and me five weeks of lost wages, to achieve what I have in the last few weeks. “If we get assistance I am sure that New Zealand weightlifting can be as good as it was in 1974 (when New Zealand dominated the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch).” Nalder, aged 26, is aiming at further improvement in the next two years, and a crck at the gold medal at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1986.