Deloney Adds To Gold Medal Lifts In Arizona Sr. Olympics

PRESCOTT, Ariz. - It's been said that age is a state of mind. If you think young, you can live young.

Bill Deloney, a 58-year Ogdensburg native who now resides in Prescott, Arizona, is proving that if you think young, you can lift young.

Since retiring to Arizona he has rekindled his love for the sport of weight lifting and while winning a host of Senior honors has matched the weights he lifted in his early 20s.

On Jan. 29 he won a Gold Medal in Powerlifting in the 55-59 age group at the Senior Olympic Festival held in Tucson. The 176-pound Deloney opened with a Squat lift of 300 pounds, bench-pressed a division-high 270 pounds and completed a 910-pound total with a Deadlift of 340 pounds.

"This was a tuneup for me before competing in Raw Powerlifting in March and I was satisfied with all three lifts," said Deloney of the festival at the Mid-Valley Athletic Club.

"Currently I am lifting 370 pounds in the Scap Iron Gym and I will crack the 400-pound mark sometime this year. I am about 15 pounds over my best weight when I was in the Air Force and I am now lifting what I was lifting in my early 20s."

Deloney attributes his success and ability to turn back the clock physically with proper training, hard work, a good diet and constant improvements in technique.

"Anything is possible and I am looking forward to my next competition. I like the benchpress the most of all three lifts. It is the one lift not correctly done most of the time. The weight must be lowered slowly all the way to your chest and pressed up without any hesitation and without arching the back. When a lifter arches, it takes away from the benefit of the lift and can cause injury." he says.

"I like the deadlift because it is the easiest of the lifts for making big gains."

Big gains at any stage of life.