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Glamour's Women of the Year
UD vs. Northern Kentucky
Magic visits with area students
Weightlifter all that — and a mom, too
Sunday, May 11, 2008
It happens all the time.
People first meet Melanie Roach — see the one-time model's good looks and her gymnast's stature, all 5-foot-1, 117 pounds of it — and they don't believe her.
The challenge of becoming an Olympic weightlifter is nothing compared to the challenge of Melanie Roach's daily routine. 'You learn not to sweat the small stuff, and I think that's transferred to weightlifting,' Roach said of raising her autistic son, Drew, 5. New York Times photo by Kevin P. Casey"They say there's no way you're a weightlifter," Roach said with a laugh as we spoke in Chicago recently. "But I am, and more women in the country need to know you can look like a girl and still be strong. I'm excited to be someone who is changing stereotypes."
And if there was ever an athlete who doesn't fit stereotypes, it is Roach, a 33-year-old Washington businesswoman and mother of three young kids, one of whom — 5-year-old son Drew — is autistic and needs constant care.
In 1998, she became the first American woman to hoist more than twice her body weight — she cleaned and jerked 248.6 pounds — over her head.
That was a decade ago and yet Saturday, May 18 — at the U.S. weightlifting trials in Atlanta — she'll likely qualify for a trip to Beijing and her first Olympic Games.
She was the favorite to make the 2000 Games, but a severe back injury scuttled the attempt. After that, she and her husband began their family, and it's only recently that she's surged back onto the weightlifting scene.
People can't believe that either and again she laughs:
"Weightlifting is the easiest part of my day now. When I go to the gym, I see it as a privilege. It's a moment to myself. I'm not chasing those three little kids, getting them ready for school, doing laundry, running a business, making meals, helping with homework, getting everybody in bed and helping Drew with all his needs.
"Having the opportunity to be a mom has balanced me out and made me a more complete athlete."
With this being Mother's Day, Roach is a perfect athlete to celebrate.
