Topic: News: Ageless Lifter Carries His Weight

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Ageless Lifter Carries His Weight
By Todd Mishler

EVANSVILLE-Jim Krueger's competitive nature just won't let him act his age.

That's because he's too busy lifting it-and much more.

The Evansville resident is 62 years young, and he still spends several days a week weightlifting or helping others improve their techniques in a sport that he's loved since he was a teen-ager.

Krueger participates in the Masters level, which includes those 35 and older for Olympic-style events and 40 and up for other powerlifting competition.

He lifted his own weight of 187 pounds in the snatch and raised 242 pounds in the clean and jerk to capture second place at the world championships in Eysines, France, in late August.

Krueger was disappointed with his performance, saying that several factors contributed to him not grabbing the coveted top position.

"I wasn't happy because it took me three attempts to get that weight in the snatch," he said. "The first time I looked down, there was a big gob of blood on the bar from the previous lifter and I had to stop and clean the bar.

"That was distracting, but you only have so much time once you start your lift. On my second try, I just lifted it wrong.

"I don't know. It was just one of those competitions where things go wrong and things come up that you can't prepare for," he said.

Sounds eerily similar to how he got started in the first place-by chance.

The Marion native stood only 5-foot and hit the scales at about 135 pounds when he and a buddy, Warren Sousek (5-10 and 200), created a makeshift set of weights with five-gallon buckets at each end. After that, they took turns raising the estimated 170 pounds up to their waists.

Krueger graduated from high school in 1962, attended UW-Oshkosh and went to graduate school at UW-Madison, all stops where he continued to tinker with a hobby that over time became a passion.

"I used to lift at the Red Barn in Madison,'' he said of the old UW gymnasium. "Then I got talked into going to some contests and eventually competed in the bench press, squat and dead lifting.

"Power lifting really gave me a purpose and a relief from my studies,'' he said. "It seemed to fit my personality and my body and that competitiveness in me."

Krueger was a state vocational counselor, and he and his wife, Beverly, settled in Evansville because it was in between their jobs in Janesville and Madison, respectively.

Then Krueger developed a sore back, and repeated visits with doctors failed to discover the cause. So he gave up weightlifting from 1981-91 before finally figuring out that getting much stiffer support under his mattress made his discomfort disappear.

So, while not buying and repairing houses, Krueger hits the gym to train and offers his knowledge and experience to up-and-coming lifters from Evansville High School.

"I don't know everything; I'm like a golfer who has to try different clubs and techniques to get better and stronger," said Krueger, who's tutored the likes of Kyle Schulz, Garth Coats and Mike Hauri. "Helping these young guys is great because they really want to learn."

It also gives Krueger more time for what he enjoys most, and the training will prepare him for his next big date on the calendar: the United States Masters Championships, which are scheduled in Atlanta the first weekend of April.

"When I was 50 or 52, I used to train regularly three times a week,'' Krueger said. "But the older you get, the longer it takes to recover in between.

"But you just have to find out what you enjoy. I know that eventually my body won't be able to take it, but I've never considered giving it up."