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| Chris Morgan |
At the recent World Drug Free Powerlifting Championships, held in Kinsale, Ireland, British competitor Chris Morgan, known to the lifting community as "The Chunky Muscle," showed that he still has what it takes to excel in the sport and stood on the podium earning a bronze medal to add to his growing collection of honors. Powerlifting, however, has not always been the Morgan's main focus, and he in fact didn't take up the sport full time until about seven years ago. Morgan started his sporting life as a professional rugby player and until 1990 made a successful career out of the sport. Then in the mid nineties, he suffered an injury, which caused him to be permanently sidelined. Not only was his body damaged, he was also ending a relationship with a woman and coming to terms with his sexuality.
With no sport to ground him, Morgan joined the club scene, and quickly lost a lot of his motivation for sports all together as he explained to the Advocate in 2004. "My coming-out coincided with when I lost my sports career, and I sort of exchanged being a first-class athlete for the club scene."
Then in 1998, he was approached by a fellow weightlifter who commented how strong Morgan was and suggested that he could do very well in the sport of Powerlifting. Morgan took the remarks to heart and entered into the Gay Games that were held in Amsterdam that year, where he returned home with a silver medal on his first big outing. He returned to the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney, and not only won the competition, but set records for the squat, the dead lift, and total pounds lifted making him one of the strongest men in the world.
Leaving Sydney on a high Morgan had the motivation and the self-assurance that he needed to progress his career as an elite athlete and soon began competing at the world level ranks. He decided to move his training to the National Sports Centre, Crystal palace and linked up with strength coach Keith Morgan and together they would begin an intense training cycle to prepare for the upcoming world championships. In 2004 Morgan made a huge splash on the world circuit and earned the silver medal at the championship finals in Atlanta and then returned in Turin to claim the top prize.
This years World Championships followed his successful outing at the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago where Morgan earned 4 Gold medals, breaking 7 gay games records in the process. Entering the competition at an estimated 165 pounds, the 34 year old completed lifts of 210 kilos (463 lbs.) in Squat, 120 kg (265 lbs.) in Bench Press and 230 kg (508 lbs.) in Deadlift for a total of 560 kilos (1235 lbs.). This impressive showing earned him the bronze medal and afterwards the openly gay athlete took time out to thank the organization, which he has credited for much of his success.
"I would like to thank the Federation of Gay Games for their continued support and their commitment to delivering the quadrennial Gay Games. I feel privileged to have represented my country for the seventh time and in winning my tenth international medal in Powerlifting. It's disappointing not to retain the World Championship, but a blessing to once again reach the podium in the World Final. It's been a very successful twelve months, with five Gold Medals and One Bronze medal in total."
Morgan says on his website www.chunkymuscle.com that he owes the Gay Games much gratitude for giving him the confidence to once again enter a sport that he loves.
