Carlos ‘The Showstopper’ Petterson-Griffith still has his sights on a World Title

Apr 10, 2021 Sports

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To be back at GALPF Qualifiers on April 25th

By Franklin Wilson

 

Kaieteur News – The name Carlos ‘The Showstopper’ Petterson-Griffith is synonymous with the weights sports in Guyana: powerlifting, strongman and even bodybuilding; but the most loved for him is powerlifting.

His sights were set on becoming Guyana’s first athlete to medal at a World Championships back in June 2019; Helsingborg, Sweden was the venue. Petterson-Griffith had sealed his place following his record breaking performances when he had set new national Squat, Deadlift and Total records on the final day of the 16th Annual IPF/ NAPF North American Regional Powerlifting Championship in Mexico City, August, 2018.
He bagged gold in the Men’s Raw Open 93kg class and followed up that performance in the Men’s Equipped Open division claiming his second gold and setting a new national Total record of 800kg, his Squat of 315kg was also a new national record as was his Deadlift mark of 330kg.
However, all those hopes came crashing down when Petterson-Griffith was suspended for 12-months by the GAPLF for competing at an un-sanctioned competition in Barbados, May 4th & 5th, 2019. The suspension was as a result of breaching Article 14.9 of the IPF Constitution and Section 12, Article 1, point 4 of the GAPLF Constitution.
With the past now behind him and a renewed focus on what he wants to achieve, Petterson-Griffith says he is more determined to achieve his #1 goal of winning Guyana’s first World title.

Always a bold talker, he disclosed that since he started competing in strength sports, he has been doing so with the, ‘man in the mirror.’
“However; from then to now I’ve been working and training hard as ever, not just for a local competition but more so for the international championships. The road to becoming a world champion is not that easy because there are quite a few other athletes on the international podium who’re also pursuing the same.
For the past year I was able to improve at least 15% of my previous scores/records and focus on a greater placing at the world championships. My main aim is to become a world champion.
Nevertheless, I’m thankful for the opportunity once again to continue to raise the Golden Arrowhead up high.”
But in order to get to the World title, Petterson-Grifith must first cross the hurdle of qualifying for the 18th Annual North American Regional Powerlifting Championships (NAPF) set for Orlando, Florida, USA from August 17 – 21, next. The said dates would also see the 18th FESUPO/NAPF Pan-American Regional Powerlifting Championships as well as the 1st FESUPO/NAPF North and South American Regional University Cup, being contested.
Trials for the relevant above championships are set for Sunday April 25th at a venue to be announced later by the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation which will also host their Novices and Junior Nationals Championships on the same date.
All the athletes from the GAPLF’s 2020 shortlist must now re-qualify for these championships and the date is April, 25th. Kaieteur Sport has been reliably informed that there are two (2) new female weight classes as well as a new scoring co-efficient called Good Lift Points which was first introduced in 2019 at the Intermediate and Masters Championships.
GAPLF’s Executive Martin Webster wrote the software which has already been coded. Webster informed that there has been a change to the formula used.
“It started out using Wilks, then IPF points and now it conforms to the new Good Lift Points. Some of the changes now are that there’s no more age coefficient for juniors, juniors and open all use the same coefficient. Only masters get an age coefficient when using Good Lift Points, all IPF stipulations.”
Webster further informed that there were some improvements to the display to keep the audience engaged. “I added some memes and GIF animations to liven up the audience. I was supposed to add some video presentations to be patched into the live stream but covid-19 put a pause on that. However, at this meet hopefully, most of the graphics I will try to get patched directly into the live stream instead of it being presented from our TVs alone.”
Meanwhile, Petterson-Griffith is expressing gratitude to the following businesses and persons for their unflinching support.
“The unwavering Fitness Express, SDB APPAREL, Mr. Jamie McDonald, MonRepos Mall/Fitness Gym, Uncle Budraj (Buddy), ‘Big’ John Edwards, Mr. Julio Sinclair and the many, many others who have supported, encouraged, motivated and more so talk some sense in me every now and then.”
Special thanks were extended by the strongman to the National Covid-19 Task Force for their approval of the event and the Federation for pushing to get competitive action back again.

 

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