Tag Archives: Steve Sherwood

World Best Lifters

By Al Myers

At the 2019 IAWA World Championships there were many great lifters in attendance!  The competition was fierce, but in the end only ONE lifter is crowned as the overall best lifter of the meet.  I knew it was going to be a close one in both the women’s and men’s divisions before the meet – and that turned out to be the case.  Today I want to recognize these two OVERALL BEST LIFTERS.  For the men’s division, the overall winner was Steve Sherwood and in the women’s division it was Elizabeth Skwarecki.   Congratulations to both of these outstanding lifters!

Elizabeth Skwarecki, the Overall Best Womens Lifter at the 2019 IAWA World Championships, receiving her award from Meet Promoter Al Myers.

Elizabeth Skwarecki, the Overall Best Womens Lifter at the 2019 IAWA World Championships, receiving her award from Meet Promoter Al Myers.

Top 3 Men's Overall Best Lifters at the 2019 IAWA World Championships (left to right): Dan Wagman 3rd, Steve Sherwood 1st, and Steve Andrews 2nd.

Top 3 Men’s Overall Best Lifters at the 2019 IAWA World Championships (left to right): Dan Wagman 3rd, Steve Sherwood 1st, and Steve Andrews 2nd.

Blindt Formula

by Al Myers

The Overall Best Lifter at the 2011 IAWA World Championships Steve Sherwood also had the TOP LIFT of the meet with his 2-Bar Vertical Bar Deadlift according to the Blindt Formula.

One of the interesting things done by the Australians at the 2011 IAWA World Championships was that they gave an award to the lifter who had the TOP LIFT according to the Blindt Formula. The Blindt Formula is something that we have never really used in the USAWA.  It was developed 20 years ago by the English lifter Adrian Blindt.  The purpose of the Blindt Formula is to “equalize” all lifts in a meet.  Each lift is given a coefficient that is supposed to make the points generated for each lift the same.  This Blindt Coefficient is multiplied by the total Lynch Points in a lift to give this new point value. The way we do things is just add the total weight up from the lifts of the day and then apply the Lynch Formula and age correction formula – but by this you can see how it is not really fair to compare a couple of lifts, ie the Hip Lift and the Weaver Stick, if they were in the same meet.  A 5 pound increase in the Hip Lift is nothing, but a 5 pound increase in the Weaver Stick is an improbability.  However, this concept never really “took hold” in the USAWA or the IAWA(UK).  I do believe the English do have a couple of meets that use the Blindt Formula, but it has never been part of the IAWA World Championships. 

Of course, “putting a number” on the Blindt Coefficient can still be a debatable point.  Also, I could see how the original Blindt Coefficient might not “hold up” after the lift is practiced more and lifters became more proficient at it.  In the Highland Games in the RMSA (Rocky Mountain Scottish Athletes), a decathlon scoring system is used in most games. Each event generates points based on a factor which is supposed to “level the playing field” and make each event worth similar points.  However, during the late 90s and early 2000s throwers made a major change in throwing technique with the sheaf (went from the push to the swing, to eventually the spin).  With these changes in sheaf techiques, much higher heights were reached, thus making this event weighted much more than the other events when  points were added up.  I felt it made the sheaf points worth at least an event and a half, thus making the sheaf a “more important” event than the others when this scoring system was used.  These same problems could happen with the Blindt Formula. 

Years ago the Blindt Formula was used in the IAWA World Postal Meet.  This World Postal Meet was directed under the promotion of the Australians as well.  It is the only time I have been involved in a meet where the Blindt Formula was used until at this World Meet, when it was being used for this “special award”.   I really liked the idea of this award, and commend the Australians for presenting this award as it gave “unique flavor” to the awards presentation. I was very curious – just WHAT would be the best lift of the meet?  Especially considering all the great lifts that were done by the outstanding lifters in attendance. I took some time and “looked over” the result sheet because it also listed the Blindt scores (but they were NOT used in the overall standings).  It was very interesting to say the least. These are the Blindt Coefficients that were assigned to the lifts contested at the World Meet:  Vertical Bar Deadlift – .7500, One Hand Swing – 1.5385, Continental Clean and Jerk – .7143, Fulton Bar Deadlift – .6620, Push Press from Rack – .8357, Cheat Curl – 1.0068, and Zercher – .5419.  Just how do you think the final standings of the BEST LIFTS of the day would look like?  The score of 100 is a PERFECT SCORE, which probably was the basis of the original point formulation. I would consider anything over 90 to be EXCELLENT in a lift when it comes to the Blindt Score, so that is the only lifts I selected for the list below. 

TOP LIFTS AT WORLDS ACCORDING TO THE BLINDT FORMULA

Rank Blindt Score Lifter Event
1 128.3 Steve Sherwood VB Deadlift
2 117.2 Steve Sherwood Fulton DL
3 106.9 Al Myers VB Deadlift
4 106.7 Mark Haydock VB Deadlift
5 100.7 Tom Edwards VB Deadlift
6 99.9 Peter Phillips VB Deadlift
7 95.7 Steve Sherwood Zercher
8 95.6 Kris McIntyre VB Deadlift
9 95.3 Steve Sherwood Swing
10 95.2 Denny Habecker VB Deadlift
11 94.8 Steve Sherwood Cheat Curl
12 93.7 Peter Phillips Swing
13 92.9 Mark Haydock Zercher
14 92.8 Al Myers Zercher
15 92.7 Frank Allen Fulton DL
16 92.3 Robin Lukosius VB Deadlift

It doesn’t take much of an analysis to realize that the Vertical Bar Deadlift is recognized MUCH MORE than the other lifts in this list. A couple of the lifts (Continental Clean & Jerk and the Push Press from the Rack) were not represented AT ALL in the list of top Blindt lifts. There were some outstanding lifts in these two lifts as well and at least the TOP LIFT in them should have made the list. It makes one wonder that the Blindt Coefficients don’t accurately correlate between different lifts.   This list doesn’t reflect record lifts, but only the lifts that counted in competition.  I would argue against the use of using the Blindt Formula based on these results, or at least until the coefficients are re-figured to provide a CURRENT and ACCURATE reflection of the proficiency of the lifts in question.  But one thing is for certain, even if the Blindt Formula was used in the overall scoring Steve Sherwood would have remained as the TOP LIFTER in the World Championships.  He made the list in 5 different lifts!!!!

Steve Sherwood – the new WORLD CHAMP

by Al Myers

Steve Sherwood (left) receiving the OVERALL BEST LIFTER AWARD from meet director Peter Phillips (right). IAWA President Steve Gardner is in the center.

Last month at the IAWA World Championships in Perth, Australia a new World Champ was crowned.  The new champion, Steve Sherwood, is very deserving of this title.  Steve is an amazing lifter, and he sure doesn’t look his age.  He is listed at 60 years of age, but physically he doesn’t look a day over 35!  Steve hails from Hull, England and has been lifting his entire life.  Recently at the 2011 Gold Cup held in Burton, England Steve was inducted into the IAWA(UK) Hall of Fame.  I was honored to be able to be in attendance at this event.  Steve has a great all round lifting resume – but surprisingly this is his FIRST TIME being crowned the Best Overall Lifter at the World Championships.  He was third overall in 2010 in Glasgow, and third overall at the 1994 Championships in Burton.  Before that, he was second overall in the 1993 World Championships in Walpole, MA and 5th overall at the World’s in Twickenham, England.  You will notice that there has been a “break in the action” for Steve of several years of World Competition, but he has returned to the platform with the same success as when he left.   He has been close so many times to winning the overall, so I congratulate him on finally achieving this highest yearly honor in the IAWA.  The way he lifted in Australia I predict it won’t be the last of overall victories for him.  I really thought at the time that  his margin of victory (872 pts to my 793 pts for second place) might be the largest of All-Time in the IAWA World Championships, but after doing some research on this, I see that it is the THIRD largest margin of victory.  In 2008, Rick Meldon won by a margin of 85 points, and in 1995 Bob Hirsh won by a margin of 122 points.

On top of all Steve’s success as a lifter, he is one of the most modest guys I have ever met and a true sportsman. He is the perfect example of what a CHAMPION should be like. Congratulations Steve!

Gold Cup

by Steve Gardner

The 2011 Gold Cup

A major highlight of the 2011 IAWA Gold Cup was the IAWA(UK) Hall of Fame induction of Sam Hills and Steve Sherwood. Pictured in left picture (left to right): Steve Gardner, Frank Allen, Sam Hills. Pictured in right picture (left to right): Steve Gardner, Steve Andrews, Steve Sherwood

The lifting at this year’s Gold Cup was outstanding, the list of different lifts attempted was both varied and very interesting to witness. During the day we were treated to several attempts on lifts that were in fact the heaviest ever done in any weight class on those particular disciplines.  Junior lifter: Emily Myers (from the USA) at 19 years old, was the youngest competitor, whilst Frank Allen from England, William Wright from Scotland and Denny Habecker from the USA were the most senior competitors, all  at 69 years young. After the lifting, the banquet dinner was held at Branston Golf and Country Club, where everyone had a wonderful time, and Steve and Karen Gardner were assisted at the presentation by their Grand Son: 5 years old Dominic, who made a good job of shaking everyones hand, and when Paula asked if she could have a kiss, he simply replied ‘No’ with no expression at all (give him a few years Lol!)

The IAWA (UK) Hall of Fame 2011 Induction

The IAWA(UK) HOF  bi- annual Induction ceremony was carried out at the Awards Banquet at Branston Golf and Country Club,  following the presentation for the Gold Cup. Inductees were: Sam Hills (awards presented by Frank Allen and Steve Gardner) and Steve Sherwood (awards presented by Steve Andrews and Steve Gardner). Steve Sherwood from Hull in Yorkshire has been a great ambassador for all round lifting, and was coached by the late Harold Akrill, and trained with Clive Nevis. Many times British and IAWA World Champion, Steve has always been a master technician on the lifts, and his one hand deadlift record of 200 kilos at 70 kilos bodyweight has stood for many years. Sam Hills from Hastings in East Sussex has been trained by the great Mike Archer (inducted member). Sam has been a great supporter of all round weightlifting, and counts amongst his favourite moments in the sport, as being presented with the award for being the overall best lifter at the IAWA World Championships in Australia.

RESULTS OF THE 2011 GOLD CUP  – IAWA 2011 Gold Cup World Record Breakers