Amateur Athletes Health

Sibby Flowers could lift the weight, she simply could not make it. An hour before her designated weigh-in period ended at the 1989 Olympic Festival weightlifting competition, Flowers was half a pound too heavy. This, after spending five hours in a sauna squeezing every ounce of water from her muscled body. The sauna was across town, she recalled this week, and she had to scurry back to try to shed eight more ounces so she could compete in the 97-pound category.

Sibby Flowers could lift the weight, she simply could not make it. An hour before her designated weigh-in period ended at the 1989 Olympic Festival weightlifting competition, Flowers was half a pound too heavy. This, after spending five hours in a sauna squeezing every ounce of water from her muscled body. The sauna was across town, she recalled this week, and she had to scurry back to try to shed eight more ounces so she could compete in the 97-pound category.