U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : Fuhrman Cleans Up With 3 Gold Medals

“Once you get it to clean, you shouldn’t miss the stupid jerk.”

Or so said Diana Fuhrman.

She was not talking about her neighborhood vacuum repairman.

Fuhrman was referring to her second attempt at a lift of 107.5 kilograms--about 237 pounds--that would have given her an American record for total weight.

But she couldn’t quite do it, and settled for a sweep of three gold medals in the 67.5kg (148- 3/4 pounds) weightlifting class at the U. S. Olympic Festival.

Fuhrman, a Simi Valley resident, won both the snatch and the clean and jerk on her opening lifts. She won the snatch with an effort of 82.5kg (181- 3/4 pounds) and the clean and jerk with a mark of 100kg (197- 1/2 pounds) to easily outdistance Julie Comer of Stanardsville, Va., in the all-around, 182.5-152.5. Comer was second in both individual events.

Had she completed either one of her final two tries at 107.5kg in the clean and jerk, Fuhrman would have equaled her American best in the event and broken the standard for total weight of 187.5kg held by Arlys Kovach of Tempe, Ariz.

Her second attempt was oh-so close.

“It was a stupid miss on my part,” Fuhrman said. “I should have had that. It didn’t feel heavy--that’s not the reason I missed it. I was just slightly out front--a technical error that I made.”

Fuhrman failed to even clean the weight (pull it from the floor to her shoulders) on her third attempt after aggravating a pulled muscle in her lower back on her second try.

“I tried to block it out for that last lift, but right off the floor I could feel it,” Fuhrman said.

She will have the next three months to train and recuperate.

In November, Fuhrman will represent the United States in the 67.5 class at the world championships in Manchester, England.

Her goals in that competition: 92.5kg in the snatch and 115kg in the clean and jerk. Both would be American records.

Fuhrman is hopeful that Bob Takano, her coach from the Van Nuys Weightlifting Club, will return from attending a clinic in Bulgaria with a new and improved workout regimen for her.

“I just know he’s going to bring back a terrible workout for me,” Fuhrman said, using typical weightlifter’s logic. “I’m going to be killed when he gets back. But I’m really looking forward to it.”