Goad Is Feeling The Power -- Weightlifter From Auburn Primed To Reach Olympics

SUMNER

He was a scrawny kid when he walked into John Thrush's weightlifting class in the Auburn High School gym 11 years ago. Nothing to turn the coach's head. But Thrush's policy is to turn away no one.

That scrawny kid turned into a strapping young man. Dean Goad, 23, has gone from ordinary person to Olympic prospect.

"When he first came in, he was about 68 pounds and, I don't know, about 4 (feet) 6," said Thrush, who coaches the Calpian Weightlifting Club from his Sumner home. "He had no flexibility, no speed, no muscle tone, no nothing.

"When he first came in at such a young age, you would not have thought he was a very good prospect. That just goes to show how hard it is to evaluate people so early in their life. He's worked hard. He's got all the tools to do this sport at a high level."

He already is. Goad, a 1986 Auburn High School graduate, recently returned from the Pan-American Games, where he won a silver medal in the clean and jerk and a bronze in total weight (snatch and clean and jerk combined) in the 82.5-kilogram (181 3/4 pounds) division. He lifted 177 kilos (389.5 pounds) in the clean and jerk and 310 kilos (682 pounds) total. Earlier this summer, he took the gold medal in total weight at the U.S. Olympic Festival, where no individual medals were awarded for snatch and clean and jerk.

His personal bests are 185 kilos (407 pounds) in the clean and jerk and 137.5 kilos (303 pounds) in the snatch for a 322.5-kilo (710 pounds) total.

Goad's goal is to make the 1992 Olympic team, something Thrush believes is possible, as well as the 1996 Olympics.

"That should be a prime time for him," Thrush said.

Physically, high school wasn't a prime time for the slow-to-grow Goad, who wrestled at 101 pounds his sophomore year. He jumped to 122 as a junior, but reached just 129 as a senior. He qualified for the state tournament all three years, but failed to place. Goad figures he was only about 5-2 in high school, then spurted to 5-6.

His uncle, Jerry Damey, who used to train and coach with Thrush, helped get Goad interested in weightlifting. Goad won two junior national championships, in 1987 and '88, and was one of only three junior competitors to make the 1988 Olympic Trials.

"That was the strangest meet I've ever been to," he said. "Everybody was so nervous and so up-tight. Nobody smiled. We were all friends. We'd all trained together. But when you got there, all of the sudden they're not your friends. You're competitors."

While Goad has all the physical qualities it takes to win, he said the sport is mostly mental.

"There are a lot of great athletes who can't lift, because they don't have the right mental set," he said. "It's not really like any other sport. The only sport I can compare it to is golf. It's all repetition. You do the same thing and you've got to be able to concentrate on doing the same thing and keep doing it correctly. Some people just get bored with it. Some people can entertain themselves. I can."

And he likes to entertain others with his powerful lifts. The bigger the crowd at competitions, the better Goad likes it.

"I train hard," he said, adding that he'll put in 10 two-hour sessions per week during intense periods before major competitions, "but there's something different about competition. It just really brings it out. It's fun. I enjoy it. I love being in front of people. The more people, the more excited I get and I usually do better."

The next major competition for Goad is the American Open in December. It's important he does well there, he and Thrush said, because it could bring some financial support from the United States Wrestling Federation - as much as $3,000.

Since graduating from high school, Goad has worked only part time - to earn "enough to get by," while concentrating on his training. He has tried to take a few classes at Green River Community College, but last spring the load took its toll - he placed a disappointing third at the national championships and technically should not have been eligible for the Pan-Am Games. But an oversight in the paperwork gave him another shot in the Olympic Festival, and he made the most of it.

"I was pretty mad after nationals," Goad said. "As soon as I got home, I hit it as hard as I could and got in good shape before the Festival. I had a good meet there. It was the strongest I've ever been."

Eventually, Goad plans to return to college, although he said he's not sure what he wants to study. He hopes to find some local sponsors this fall. He admitted he's frustrated sometimes to hear about the huge salaries of some professional athletes, and the financial support of amateur athletes in some other countries, while he and many other Olympic hopefuls in the U.S. struggle to pay the rent.

"If I didn't love the sport so much, I wouldn't be doing it," Goad said. "About all you get out of it is the enjoyment of the sport. If I worked as many hours at a job as I do working here (in the gym), I'd be making a lot of money."