Column: Spencer Arnold of Gainesville is making a name for himself as Team USA’s weightlifting coach at the Summer Olympics

By Phil Hudgins

For the times

It was 7 a.m. in Honolulu, Hawaii when Spencer Arnold answered the phone.

A little early for me, but as a weightlifter he’s used to getting up early.

Arnold was in Hawaii to prepare for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Like almost everyone who has been training in a sport practically every day for years, Arnold dreamed of participating in the Olympics.

But he was far too light for his size, and even taking part in national, let alone international, competitions would be like squeezing blood out of a rock, a coach told him years ago.

However, the coach didn’t know how hard this young man could push. Arnold actually won national weightlifting, winning medals at national junior championships, national championships, and the American Open where he won gold.

But Olympia?

Well, that was out of the question.

As a lifter, yes, but not as a trainer. This humble, personable guy from Gainesville trains three Olympic lifters who have a good chance of winning medals. And they chose him as their trainer; he was not assigned.

A few years ago, 33-year-old Arnold founded Power and Grace Performance to coach athletes primarily online. At first the company consisted of two people. But because of the coronavirus, it kept strength athletes away from gyms and Arnold was already set up for remote coaching, his company grew to 11 employees in about a year.

“I love the emotion and the feeling of doing something that is really competitive,” he said. “Now I like to watch how (other) athletes feel these feelings.”

A full team of eight US weightlifters – there were five or six – has qualified for this year’s Summer Olympics, and Arnold predicts five of the eight will win medals. In the past, the United States has been a follower of Olympic weightlifting.

But Arnold’s athletes: Jourdan Delacruz from Braselton; Kate Nye and Harrison Maurus – and two others can lift with the best of them. He started coaching Delacruz, now 23 when she was a kid.

If you want to see how they’re doing, here’s the television schedule for NBC (times are Eastern Daylight): Delacruz, 12:50 p.m. Saturday, July 24th (you can record it and go to bed); Maurus, 6:50 a.m. Saturday, July 31; and Nye, 6:50 a.m. Sunday August 1st.

If they win, don’t expect Arnold to take a loan.

One of his favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 18:39: “For you have equipped me for battle and let my enemies fall under me.”

The operative sentence, he said, is: “You have furnished me.” When it comes to lifting weights, “It’s easy to believe that all of my work is making this happen. It’s homemade. But I understand who made me, and there’s nothing self-made about that. ”

It is the Creator who gives the talent and deserves the fame.

Still, Arnold can look back and remember that it all started when he was a middle school student with a set of Wal-Mart weights filled with sand.

Now, with the Olympics, a dream is coming true.

So, Spencer Griffith Arnold, God obviously endowed you very well.

Phil Hudgins is a former writer and editor for The Times.

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