Weightlifter weds coach on Olympics eve

Sydney: US weightlifter Suzanne Leathers swapped her dumb-bells for wedding chimes and married her coach Don McCauley at a Sydney ceremony on Thursday on the eve of the Millennium Olympics.

But Leathers' golden day was also one of heartache. A reserve athlete on the US team, the 75-kg class lifter found out just hours before sealing her marriage with a kiss that there would be no place for her in the Games competition.

"It's a good part of it," Leathers said, when asked whether her marriage had made up for the disappointment. Leathers, 28, and McCauley, 52, met seven years ago when a friend of the groom introduced them because he thought she would be a good Olympic lifter.

The couple, both from Rhode Island, moved in early 1999 to Savannah, Georgia, where Leathers trains with the elite Team Savannah. "I fell in love with weightlifting and over the years I built up a very friendly relationship with my coach," Leathers said, adding that they had been dating for three years.

She told reporters at the Bankstown Sports Club social centre in suburban Sydney, where warm-hearted Australians laid on the Olympic treat wedding, that tying the marriage knot was not quite as nerve-wracking as going for victory.

"Competition is a little bit worse, but you're able to do something. Here I had to stay still and say stuff," she said.

US team member attend wedding

Several members of the US weightlifting team took part in the service as ushers and bridesmaids, including Robin Goad whose aptly named daughter Sydney, aged three, was among attendants.

Women's national team coach Michael Cohen gave Leathers away. "Most of the girls train in the same town and they're one big family," Cohen said. "The Olympics is a dream for everyone and this is part of it."

Leathers finished the selection process for Sydney ranked fifth overall in the United States, one slot below the cut-off for a certain place. She and McCauley had long planned to marry in Sydney after the Games had she been assured of competing.

McCauley said he would make sure his bride switched out of her white wedding dress and back into training on Friday - after a first night as husband and wife at a hotel outside the Olympic athletes' village.

The couple's sights are now set on winning a medal at the Athens Games in 2004. "By then, I expect her to be one of the top two weightlifters in the United States," McCauley said.

Only Leathers' sister Lauren was able to make the long journey to Sydney for the ceremony. But there will be no shortage of wedding photographs to show the folks back home, including shots of the couple smiling and kissing in front of the Olympic rings.

"There's more press here than Fleet Street," remarked one Australian onlooker in a reference to the traditional home of British newspapers."They look lovely."



(c) Reuters Limited.