Topic: News: A Look Back at Team Savannah 2000

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

A Look Back at Team Savannah 2000
By Alaina Anderson
February 13, 2006
 
While some are competing in the Olympic games for the first time, our own Team Savannah has already experienced the Olympics. It was the summer games in 2000.
Three Team Savannah members made the US Olympic Weightlifting Team, while two others were alternates. The games were in Sydney, Australia that year and Savannians couldn't have been more proud of their athletes.

Cheryl Haworth, Cara Heads-Lane, and Oscar Chaplin III made up half the 2000 US Olympic weightlifting team. Michael Martin and Susanne Leathers were alternates.

Before heading to Sydney, we wished them good luck, hosting send-off ceremonies and even drove them around in a limo. See to Savannians, they were more than athletes; they were superstars.

Coach Michael Cohen said in 2000, "This is what the community of Savannah is all about. Preparing our youth, giving them the opportunity." An opportunity to head to the Olympics, do their best, and maybe, just maybe come home with medals.

But before competing, they had to take care of one thing: Susanne's wedding in Australia. Cheryl and Cara were bridesmaids.

But soon it was time to get back to business. Cheryl even got the attention of Tom Brokaw. And after the final lift, Cara placed seventh in the world, Oscar was 12th, and Cheryl brought home the bronze.

Cheryl said in 2000, "Broke American records, got a bronze medal, I couldn't ask for more." But sometimes you get more than you ask for.

That's why the road to victory did not end in 2000 for Cheryl and Team Savannah. It's been almost six years since the Sydney Olympics and Coach Cohen is still training athletes in Savannah.

"Several of the sportscasters for Savannah once told me right after 2000, look here, you won a medal at the Olympics. You've got to do at least that to get any notoriety," says Cohen. But Team Savannah is getting attention. It's just from other athletes. Cohen calls this center the Mecca where everyone comes to train.

Cohen says, "The Canadian National Team spends a lot of time here training getting ready for international events. So it's good for our athletes to be able to train with some of the best in the world. But the best in the world are already here," like Cheryl Haworth.

After Sydney and the 2004 games, she enrolled at SCAD, studying historic preservation. She'll graduate in a few months and is still lifting.

"I don't think as any athlete anybody could ever really be satisfied. You just have to keep going and you can always do better. And I can always do better and my goal is to get a gold medal," says Cheryl. And the 2008 Olympics is one of the competitions she's getting ready for.

"It's really hard to believe that we're thinking about 2008 already. I'll be 25 and it will be my third Olympic games," says Cheryl.

As for the rest of Team Savannah, Michael Martin and Susanne Leathers are retired. Cara Heads-Lane will be out for the next six to eight months because of a serious neck injury.

"Oscar has had some serious knee problems for the last three years. He did not make the world team in 2005 and I don't know if he'll make it in 2006. That's not a good sign," says Cohen.

Whether they've left the sport or are still lifting, they'll always have their memories of Sydney.

"Just physically being there and it's the biggest place you'll ever walk into. Billions of people are witnessing this. It's outrageous. It's very surreal. It was a great time," says Cheryl.

For Cheryl and Cohen, weightlifting isn't just about winning medals. It's about doing your best. And in 2008, Team Savannah will show the world who the best really is.

Team Savannah's now getting ready for the 2012 Olympics. Coach Cohen says he has some kids who are so good that in a few years you'll be saying, "Cheryl who?"