Rio Rancho’s Teale Adelmann not only went for the gold, she got it.
As it turned out, Adelmann was the only member of Team USA to earn a gold medal as the U.S. finished second to Japan at the IPF World Women’s Bench Press Single-Lift Championships in Prague, Czech Republic.
 A colorful, efficient muscle, to be sure, for Teale Adelmann. |
Adelmann, 36, sounded disappointed that she didn’t have to heft 270 pounds, which her husband Mike predicted she’d need to lift to win the gold medal.
“The thing I learned about it is it’s very strategic,” Adelmann said, after returning to Rio Rancho last Friday. “The coaches and handlers do a lot of last-minute changes.
“I was expecting to lift a lot more,” she explained. “I’m ready for more. ‘No, do this, and win,’ I was told. It’s a whole different strategy in order to get you to win.”
Adelmann said in the type of competitions she usually participates in, “the goal is to lift your personal best.”
Not so at international meets, it turns out, and since lifting 253 pounds would be enough for her to nab the top spot that was all she wrote – or pressed.
What was going through her mind at the time?
Not much, it seems.
“I couldn’t believe how calm I was,” she recalled, saying she’d recently read a motivational book, “’The Mental Edge,’ about maximizing your potential, kind of mind control. I went over the things I’d learned. I was fine -- I just went out there and did what I was supposed to do, just followed through and did it. The weight felt great—I was ready for more.”
Adelmann said drug testing helped her cause.
“The lady that was right above me in the No. 1 spot, from the Ukraine, they pulled all the team out for drug tests,” Adelmann added. “It was awesome – I didn’t expect to win gold and be up there on the podium with the National Anthem playing. Everyone around me was so surprised – who is this girl? -- because I came out of nowhere. It was a shock for everybody on the team and they were so excited. It was a lot of fun.”
Except for a brief trip to Mexico, Adelmann and her husband Mike had never been out of the U.S.
“We were there for 12 days. We took a dinner cruise tour,” she said of the adventure in Prague. “Every day we were walking miles around Prague, getting to know the city and the metric system and to just relax.
“It gave us a new appreciation for the U.S. They don’t believe in refrigeration or air conditioning. It was pretty toasty in the hotel room,” she said, which included a TV with but one English-language station: CNN.
“We felt very safe. The only actual crime that is there is pickpockets,” she continued, learning something else: “Everything is expensive.”
That included a financial wallop she wasn’t expecting when she learned the conversion rate in the Czech Republic and their hotel room, which she had budgeted no more than $70 a night, actually cost $200 a night.
“That was something I didn’t budget for – and the hotel was horrible,” she said. She also lamented paying $6.50 for a can of Diet Coke at the airport there.
“Other than that, we really had a good time,” she said. “It was an incredible experience and the camaraderie of the USA team was incredible – I’d never lifted with these people before. Me being the new person, they allowed me to accept the second-place medal and at the opening ceremonies, all 30 countries walked out. I got to do that, too.”
Adelmann said she was grateful for her sponsors, Max Muscle, the Sports Club and All-Star Realty in Rio Rancho, as well as for the reception she received once she was back home.
“I couldn’t believe it when I walked in the (Sports Club) gym. Every single person (said) congratulations. They all knew. That was pretty incredible --
I didn’t expect such a welcoming home,” she said. “My mom and daughter covered my house in red, while and blue. It was the Fourth of July when I returned and it was very patriotic.”
What’s next?
Adelmann said she’s going to the bench nationals in North Carolina next month, when she can qualify to represent the U.S. at next year’s world bench press championships in Luxembourg.
She hopes more people will know about powerlifting, especially the bench press, very soon.
“I did go door-to-door at the local strip mall near the gym (to raise money),” she recalled. “A lot of people don’t know what powerlifting is.”
They all know what gold is … what a champion is … and who Teale Adelmann is.
“This is definitely awesome and my goal is to continue what I’m doing,” she said. “I plan to go back to the ‘worlds’ in 2009. And I’m going to do something a little different, power sports – no equipment, just raw lifting.”
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