Have you ever scrolled through your cell phone contacts trying to find the best man (or woman) who is strong enough to help you haul that old fridge out of the basement? Well, stop scrolling and call Louis Charlier from now on.
Louis Charlier is a Beaver Area High School senior who competes in Olympic lifting competitions all over the Untied States.
However, Charlier has only been lifting seriously for two and a half years. Charlier lifts anywhere from four to five days a week at the Country-Strong gym in nearby Ohioville.
As a kid growing up Charlier was always much larger than other kids his age so he could not really participate in team sports that had weight limits.
Charlier was frustrated by this, so when he got to high school he found weight lifting.
Charlier said, “It was just a very natural event for me. I was a bigger person, and when I lifted bigger weights than other people it made me feel good, so I decided I was going to work as hard as I could to become stronger than everyone.”
At that point Charlier decided to join the Country-Strong gym.
Country-Strong is run by lifting instruction Tim Griesser. Mr. Griesser has a vast knowledge of sport and training. He played basketball at the devision-one level and has also done things like work as a trainer for the Chicago Bulls and UPMC.
“We have a lot of great lifters on my Olympic lifting team, but our goal for Louis is to try and make the USA Olympic team in the next couple of years,” said Mr. Griesser.
To achieve this impressive goal, Charlier has competed in several cities such as Pittsburgh, Chicago,
Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Spokane, Washington.
The two lifting events that Charlier competes in are the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk.
Charlier has successfully lifted large amounts of weight in these two events. In the Snatch he has lifted 125 kilograms or 275 pounds for us Americans. In the clean he has lifted 150 kilograms or an astonishing 330 pounds.
Louis has placed at least third in every competition he has competed in. He has three first-place finishes, two second-place finishes, and the rest are third place.
Charlier has a competition coming up in July at his home gym. The date has not yet been determined.
Charlier said, “I love the individual part of it. The only person who can make things not go right is me.”
