‘I do like a good Games buffet’: Lucky weightlifter Damon Kelly prefers gold medals over buffets

WEIGHTLIFTER Damon Kelly will compete in his fourth Commonwealth Games this year and it’s lucky his love for the tournament buffets is matched by his love of gold medals.

DAMON Kelly will need to lift twice the body weight of Brisbane Lions midfielder Rhys Mathieson above his head to have a shot at a Commonwealth Games gold medal.

The magnitude of the tin being lifted in the gym by top weightlifters like Kelly is always hard to relate to when quoted in bare numbers.

His best snatch mark of 176kg is exactly twice the weight of 88kg midfielder Mathieson, who picked up a few tips on technique when Kelly joined him in the Lions gym.

Commonwealth Games gold medal weightlifter Damon Kelly. Picture: Marc Robertson

Kelly will also have to get close to his best clean-and-jerk effort (222kg) if he is to post a 390kg-plus total that is good enough to pressure young Samoan favourite Lauititi Lui.

Kelly, 34, will heave the equivalent of a small car over the course of every training session to be at his peak when the Commonwealth’s top lifters converge on the Gold Coast in April.

The rare chance to compete in his home state has pushed him to his fourth Commonwealth Games team with dreams of repeating the gold he won in 2010 in New Delhi.

Damon Kelly coaches Brisbane Lion Rhys Mathieson. Picture: Peter Wallis

“I definitely have my work cut out against three young lifters from Samoa, New Zealand and Pakistan but that’s where experience comes in,” Kelly said.

“Lots of crazy things happen in weightlifting and everything I do over the next 10 weeks will be aimed at getting it right on the day to be within striking distance.”

At a tick over 150kg, the Brisbane father-of-three will have the biggest frame of any Aussie athlete at the Games ... and the biggest appetite.

Damon Kelly (right) is set to be named in his fourth Commonwealth Games. Picture: Peter Wallis

The buffet destroyer devours enough steak, chicken, protein shakes, eggs and vegetables to feed a small family over any week.

“I do like a good Games buffet,” Kelly said.

Kelly and 2006 gold medallist Deborah Acason, named on her fifth Commonwealth Games team, headlined the 16-strong Australian weightlifting team named.

Tickets remain available for seven of the weightlifting sessions at the new Carrara Sports Centre.

WOMEN: Alyce Stephenson, Tegan Napper, Tia Clair Toomey, Seen Lee, Philippa Malone, Stephanie Davies, Kaitlyn Fassina, Deborah Acason.

MEN: Phillip Liao, Vannara Be, Brandon Wakeling, Francois Etoundi, Boris Elesin, Simplice Ribouem, Ridge Barredo, Damon Kelly.

Originally published as ‘I do like a good Games buffet’: Lucky weightlifter Damon Kelly prefers gold medals over buffets