Cheryl Haworth is legend material in American weightlifting. Almost nobody can compare with her record of success. She was unbeatable on US soil throughout her career, eventually becoming a World Champion and Olympic medalist.
 
I think I first saw Cheryl competing at the nationals in 1997, if my memory is correct. She was around 14 years old at the time, already lifting weights that were winning medals.  People were making a big deal about her, obviously. As she rose through the ranks over the years, she became one of the most recognizable presences in our sport.
 
She still holds the American records in the women’s 90+ category with a 128 kg snatch and 161 kg clean and jerk, and 287 kg total. It wasn’t always easy for her, as she went through an elbow injury that almost ended her run. But year after year, Cheryl just kept coming back and succeeding.
 
Now, she’s a coach and ambassador for the sport. She speaks out against drugs, and she tries to contribute and give back to the sport that made her a superstar. In other words, she’s still doing everything right, just like she always did on the platform. The Performance Menu is honored to give you an interview with Cheryl Haworth.
 
Tell us about your background. Where are you from, where do you currently live, what’s your occupation, family life, what kind of sports background do you have outside of lifting, etc. 
 
I grew up in Savannah, Georgia as a kid that pretty much did every sport and in a family that encouraged all physical activity. My mother and father were both historically very active people and didn’t believe in just allowing us to hang around the house. I also have an older and younger sister. At that time, we had basketball and softball we played seasonally as well as a pool in which we spent the majority of time in the summer. I picked up weightlifting via softball (still a 13-year-old kid at the time in 1996) just to do a bit of strength training and the Anderson-Cohen facility in Savannah. It was free to use for the public, and our coach decided to take us there for a little strength training. One thing led to another, and I quickly dedicated my time exclusively to lifting.
 
I graduated from The Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA in Historic Preservation in the middle of my lifting career, and then moved to Colorado Springs for a bit to train at the OTC. After retirement not too long thereafter in 2010, I began working for my alma mater, SCAD, and there I met my wife, Kalen. We moved to Hong Kong and lived there for three years which is where I decided to give this coaching thing a try. Turns out that I love it, and upon moving back to the United States about six months ago, I partnered up with BTB CrossFit in Atlanta, which is where I operate Haworth Weightlifting. 
 
Describe your weightlifting history. When/how did you start? Who have your coaches been? What championships and international teams do you have on your record? What are your best lifts?
 
I started weightlifting in 1996, as I mentioned, to get stronger for other sports, and I picked weightlifting up quite naturally. It’s seemed a foregone conclusion that I would continue and soon began winning Jr. National meets and setting some school-age and junior records. I managed to qualify for both Jr. and Sr. world championships, but I was too young to compete in 1997 and 1998. Finally, in 1999, officially on the world team, I managed to snag a bronze medal in the snatch competition, which I believe was a huge confidence booster for me going into the next Games. I was to compete at the next three Olympic Games (‘00, ‘04, ‘08) earning the bronze in 2000 and finishing 6th and 4th in 2004 and 2008. I won the Jr. World Championships twice and couldn’t clinch the third win because of an elbow dislocation during the competition. Still won the snatches, though! I was Pan-American Games champion in 1999, and until our amazing Team USA performances in Anaheim in 2017, I was the last American weightlifter to get a total medal at the world championships, which I did in Qatar in 2005. Here in the States, I won seven consecutive Jr. National titles and 11 consecutive National Championships. I’m presently still the American Junior, Senior, and Pan American record holder. I was also credited with a world record last year when they made the new Youth categories. The last snatch I performed at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney of 125kgs was determined to still be the heaviest snatch by a female 17 or younger. My best lifts are 128kgs in the snatch (that elbow injury was caused by 130kgs, which I almost had!) and 161kgs in the clean and jerk. I front squatted 190kgs, back squatted 225kgs and managed a 170kg jerk off the blocks, which I’m pretty proud of. Those are all the ones I think anyone may care about! My primary coaches over the years have been Michael Cohen, Bob Morris, and Don McCauley. There are too many others to list, of course, for their time and effort in trying to make me the best athlete I could be. I’ve crossed paths with some amazing coaches through the years, and I’m grateful to all of them. I’ve learned so much and many I continue to reach out to for advice. 
 
Please give a basic description of how you trained throughout your career. You lifted for a very long time and always had success. Did your training approach change over time?
 
The way I trained in my career certainly changed over time, but I’ll cite two periods in particular. The first ten years of my career were in Savannah under the advisement of Michael Cohen, who was my coach. When training with Cohen, we didn’t do very many lifting variations, but simply snatched and clean and jerked a lot, pulled heavy and squatted heavy. It’s a very straightforward method and, not only did I quickly develop a pretty good technique, but I cultivated a nice rhythm and timing during the lift as well, which would help me stay consistent as a competitor through the years. We lifted heavy often, and that familiarity with the weight helped build confidence too. Michael was also a great coach to have on your team in a competitive situation as well, and he was almost exclusively my competition coach. What this means is that we developed major trust in which, during an intense competition scenario, he knew what I was capable of and never allowed room for doubt, and I never wondered if he was doing his job precisely, so I could focus on picking the heavy stuff up. For many reasons I’ll not list here, I decided to move to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO in 2006 for a change of scenery. I had already begun working with Don McCauley at this time, and it was more or less in tandem with Bob Morris (head women’s coach at the OTC at the time) that I was coached for the remainder of my career. With Don and Bob alike, after lifting for about 10 years, I really did begin to understand what my body was doing. I began to get the value of different exercises and lifting variations, recognize and be educated about the importance of all the peripheral aspects of being an athlete. I think my growth during this period, even though I was injured for most of it, is what I appreciate most now as a coach because I simply learned so much from these two men. 
 
In the end, the excess volume really did me in, I’m afraid. I think that the magic number for me was four full lifting sessions per week, anywhere from two to three hours, including putting in my shoes and running my mouth for a bit before the session. I felt strong, and I felt rested. I’m an athlete who can get injured pretty easily relative to others, and I responded well to high-intensity workouts rather than volume. Moving to the OTC and going from four or five sessions per week to 9+ wrecked my poor little super heavyweight body. That in combination with the fact that the importance of the accessory things and keeping me a balanced athlete early on were not properly prioritized, in my opinion, and set me up for a situation where it was simply too little too late. 
 
Describe some of the obstacles you faced, or maybe some things that frustrated you in your weightlifting life.  What kinds of changes would you like to see, either personally or with the sport in general?
 
I feel like I keep stealing my own thunder here! The above is a major frustration that I have about my living history, for sure. Being undereducated about myself and what I was doing (keeping in mind I was 13 when I started) early in my career lost me a lot of time. Hindsight is kind of a jerk, but it’s excellent inspiration to me now, as my number one priority when training my athletes now is to keep them healthy. When they feel good lifting weights, they will feel good ABOUT lifting weights and get stronger as a result. I don’t want anyone developing any bitterness approaching the way I felt there for a while about how my career ended. It’s all just an opportunity to learn. 
 
As far as wanting to see changes in the sport, I’m proud to say that USAW is making some wonderful things happen with promoting the sport and making it available to so many more folks than ever before. I’m absolutely fascinated still that people have become huge fans and that our American athletes are getting some recognition for excelling in a tricky sport. My major gripe, and one bitterness I’m sorry to say I’ll never let go of, is the drug testing situation as a whole. I think USADA (US Anti-Doping Association) does a beautiful job keeping our athletes healthily playing on an even field. They’re aggressive about keeping the cheaters out and unwelcome to participate and I think, culturally, with all the newcomers, it’s critical to send that message. It’s not JUST about how much you lift by any means necessary but doing it such a way that can be admired. I have no respect for anyone who thinks it all right to use whatever advantage at their disposal. I think there’s a lot of work we can all do together nationally and internationally to ensure the culture changes in a positive way for everyone. It’s a privilege for a country to send a delegation to the Olympic Games, not a right, and one of the major pillars of the Olympic Movement is fair play. Just sayin’. 
 
What are your plans and goals in weightlifting now? How do you see your future in the sport?
 
My goals in weightlifting now have become simply to contribute. Though it is cliché, I feel the need to give back after my long hiatus and just see how I can help out. I think the necessity of becoming a coach in order to obtain a visa in Hong Kong was probably one of the best things to ever happen to me. It really made me appreciate weightlifting for the first time. I’m finding it very satisfying to build up my little weightlifting team, have lifters compete nationally and internationally and be a source of information for anyone who would like to share it. I’m also 35 years old this year...maybe compete as a master? 
 
Who are some of your major influences, people you look up to, etc.? Who are the people you want to thank for your success?
 
Who would I like to thank for my success? This is probably the closest I’ll get to an Oscars speech, so I’ll take a crack at it. Certainly, the aforementioned coaches go without saying. Shin Ho Kang (former head coach of South Korea) and the time he spent with me in Savannah will never be forgotten and I still cite his teachings often. I think the most mind-blown I’ve ever been about suddenly “getting” something was from him, and he also had a major influence on Don McCauley’s weightlifting philosophy. Much of that knowledge either reached me directly from Coach Kang or trickled its way down to me from Don. I also had some invaluable friends and training partners through the years, most notably, Cara Heads-Slaughter who managed to put up with my teenaged self while training daily together, on the same bar, for our first Olympics together. She taught me how to be (at least she got me thinking about it) a dedicated athlete and teammate. She’s also my dearest friend. If I had to list all the people who’ve inspired me, it would simply be too long, so I’m going to snatch (pardon) a name from the air that just keeps popping up as I think on the question. Also, if I disappoint anyone by not naming them, at least I can’t be blamed for not picking a rock star. Robin Byrd-Goad still has me awestruck to this day, not only with what she did as an athlete (only won the world championships in ‘94...please look up the rest of her accolades. They’re astounding), but as the most loving and generous person with her time that I know. Robin had been in the sport for years upon my arrival and was the most soothing presence to have as a teammate. That’s not to say she didn’t get grumpy when she was cutting weight to be 48 kilos, but her example made me want to be a better sportswoman. She also, more than once, when I was a teenager would carefully explain to me who individuals were and why they were so important to women’s weightlifting. I remember visiting with her at a national meet (I may have been 14 or 15 at the time) and she pointed a woman out to me and asked if I knew who the woman was. When I explained that I didn’t, she said, “Well that’s Judy Glenney. She’s why we have women’s weightlifting.” I’m paraphrasing a bit here, but never once would Robin include herself in such a category, even though we all know that she is. Instead she looked back and was grateful. That’s also all that I’m trying to do. 
 
Thanks for all you’ve done, Cheryl. It was fun to watch you compete all those years, and you’ve become a terrific representative for our sport. Best of luck to you in the future.