Stories Written About Me

You see them everywhere at Tony's Gym on Slappey Boulevard. They are walking, lifting and flexing. They are the weightlifters, guys and gals whose pecs and biceps more than fill out their tank tops and sometimes prohibit a fluid stride. Underneath the brawn is a slightly larger ego that drives them to get stronger.

Wade through the muscle and iron and you'll find one particular 89-pound female perhaps bigger and better than them all. Three times a week, Kathia Belgrave trains at Tony's. Look hard, though. If she's working her abs in the crunch machine, she'll disappear for a second, like it is swallowing her

She stands no more than 5-foot, a single mother of two (Precious, 7, and Ricardo, Jr, 4), yet is the reigning Georgia Ironman in her powerlifting weight class.

People don't respect me because I am so small," Belgrave, 27, said. Maybe they don't understand why Belgrave can deadlift more than three times her weight. Even if they did know why they probably wouldn't truly understand anyway because the answer lies strictly between Belgrave and her best friend.

An Inspiration

On Oct.10, 1978, Kenny Blanchard was a content teenager at age 17, riding his motorcycle through the streets where he grew up in East Albany. Cruising south on the Liberty Expressway, Blanchard turned off on the Clark Avenue ramp and simply couldn't hang on.

He lost control of his bike, throwing him off the embankment. Blanchard was rushed to Palmyra Park Hospital in critical condition. Thankfully and probably luckily, he survived. However, he would never walk again. Blanchard is a quadriplegic, confined to a wheelchair with only partial use of his arms. His life changed forever But that is a subjective statement if you don't ask Kenny directly. Truly his life did change, but it took another swing 18 years after the accident at Albany State.

"It truly is a beautiful story," said Judd Biasiotto, a world class powerlifter in his time and now Belgrave's biggest fan. Perusing her degree in military science and foreign language, Belgrave met Blanchard in an English class in 1996. Almost simultaneously, Belgrave had taken Biasiotto's weightlifting class and begun to take the sport more seriously. It was the perfect tradeoff, two congenial people swapping favors. But who knew at that time it would amount to a budding friendship.

Belgrave helped Blanchard take notes and Blanchard became Belgrave's mental and relaxation coach in powerlifting. We're best friends, now," Blanchard said, "I'm a people person. I like having friends. She helped me in my English class and we grew closer "We can talk about anything. I trust her with anything. When she says she is my friend, she really means it. To Belgrave, Blanchard is more than just a friend. "He is very important to me and what I do (in powerlifting)" Belgrave said. "He helps me with my mind. In weightlifting if you let the weight get in your head, it beats you. You're no good."

She is good

Thanks to Kenny, Belgrave is good, though. Biasiotto, who has trained national champion powerlifters Joy Hare in 1982 and Carol Blackwell in 1995, knows excellence. A professor at Albany State, Biasiotto taught Belgrave in his class and knew from the beginning she was special.

"When I demonstrated the lift the first day, she was the only one to get it up," Biasiotto said. "I could tell she had done this before."

Born in Panama, the daughter of a military father, she moved to Spain for most of her childhood and moved to Albany in 1988. She said she had lifted weights for a while but had never powerlifted until she took Biasiotto's class. As a member of the ROTC, Belgrave took the class just to keep in shape and exercise. Right away, Biasiotto knew she had the body makeup to be a champion. "She has perfect form and a strong back," Biasiotto said, "Just with her mechanics alone she can lift more weight. "She has the potential to be a world champion. She is already the best female lifter in Georgia."

Biasiotto's words may sound hyperbolic, but he isn't far off In last year's United States Powerlifting Federation national championship, the winner in Belgrave's 89-pound weight class deadlifted 226 pounds, about 50 less than what Belgrave can deadlift (270). The world record is 310.

He (Biasiotto) uses that word potential," Belgrave said. "My goal is to be the very best."

Mental lift

When Blanchard met Belgrave, he knew nothing about powerlifting or weightlifting. He never had to, really.

As his friendship with Belgrave grew, he wanted to be interested in her life. So, even though he can't lift, he learned. "Kenny wanted to learn so bad he came to my class," Biasiotto said. He knows a lot now. He is very good with her mentally." Three times a week, as much as her training time, Blanchard and Belgrave work on the mental aspects of lifting, easing Belgrave's mind and making her visualize her goals.

"I get her to lay back and get her to tell what her lift looks like," Blanchard said. "Others use different methods. That is the way I learned it. I told her I thought it might do her some good."

Blanchard said he learned by reading and watching a lot of television, and Belgrave said if she didn't have him as a coach she wouldn't be as competitive.

In the next year or two, Belgrave will begin competing regionally; then nationally and then internationally. Biasiotto said if her bench and squat catch up to her deadlifting she will be very competitive. And he said she owes it all to Kenny

"Kenny deserves the credit," Biasiotto said. "He takes care of her and reinforces her. He's the one that has gotten her to where she is.

Where she is, is about three months away from defending her Georgia Ironman title. The date: Oct. 10,1998. Exactly 20 years to the day Blanchard became paralyzed.

A bittersweet reminder of the frailty of life but also the gift of friendship.

DON STALVEY/Staff

Kathia Belgrave, 27, a single
mother of two, Is reigning Georgia
Ironwoman champion in her power
lifting weight class. She can dead lift
more than three times her weight.

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