Justin Smith, champion powerlifter ties to Lauretta

     There’s a connection to Lauretta in this story about Justin Smith – Justin’s grandfather was Weldon Smith of Lauretta.  Weldon was the son of Birt & Violet Smith – they lived across the road from Lauretta School on the Centerline Road.
     This story appeared in this weeks West Prince Graphic - http://peicanada.com/west_prince_graphic/publication/mount_pleasant_powerlifter_captures_three_medals_poland

Mount Pleasant powerlifter captures three medals in Poland

Wed, 09/05/2012 - 05:15 /By Cindy Chant / cindy@peicanada.com

             At just 18-year-old, Justin Smith has some more medals to put under his weight lifting belt after his recent trip to Szczyrk, Poland. The Mount Pleasant powerlifter not only won a gold, silver and bronze medals at the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Powerlifting Championships, he set a new world record for his deadlift.

            “When I won the medals it was a moment of awe, and felt that my past three years in the sport finally paid off,” said Mr Smith. He explained, “After I pulled my first deadlift (which was already good for a gold medal) I felt awesome because I knew that it was going to be good for either gold or silver since it was so far ahead of the second place starter.”

            For the competition Mr Smith was in the men’s subjunior 59 kilogram weight class, down from the 66 kilogram class he is used to competing against in the deadlift of 235.5 kilograms.

            “After I pulled the world record rather easily on my second I felt like I was on top of the world,” said Mr Smith.

            Powerlifting involves three components - the squat, the bench press and the dead lifts. The weight successfully hoisted in all three events is then combined for the competitor’s total score. That’s based on total weight lifted, divided by body weight. Evangeline Recreation Centre in Abrams Village has been called home for Mr Smith in preparation to the upcoming event.

            According to Mr Smith the silver overall medal felt more like a gold given the circumstances of how close the competition was.

            “It really came down to the last lift which unfortunately slipped from my grip,” he said.

            “I checked the final results/statistics and I actually have the best deadlift in the world, not only for my specific division, but for the entire sub-junior age division.”

            The grounded teen encourages anyone who is interested in getting into the competitive sport to take a few words of advice.

            “Firstly that they will not get big and bulky like the professional bodybuilders we constantly see on the cover of the magazines, regardless of gender. Expect to get in the shape of your life and gain a lot of strength and energy doing so. Also when starting out, what you lift is not important at that time. Proper form and technique to do the exercises is the most important thing,” said Mr Smith. He went on to say, “Lastly, if they take the time and dedicate themselves to the sport, they will get somewhere.”

            The three medals will hang over Mr Smiths’ team Canada T-shirt, which has yet to arrive after ordering it before leaving Poland. He will be keeping with tradition as all Mr Smith’s medals hang over his competition shirts.

            The world championships wrapped up Sept 2.