#94: US Olympic Weightlifting Coach Jim Schmitz Goes For Gold!

Truth Not Trends

Jim Schmitz, owner of The Sports Palace, a weightlifting and weight training gym and club established in San Francisco in 1968. His accomplishments in the field of Olympic-style weightlifting are numerous.

He has twice been selected as head coach of United States Olympic weightlifting teams, in 1980 and 1988, and was selected as assistant Olympic Team Weightlifting coach in 1992. He was head coach for the 1979 Pan American Games Weightlifting Team and the 1977, 1985, and 1987 US World Teams. He was Competition Director for Weightlifting at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He was president of USA Weightlifting 1988 to 1996 and a member of the International Weightlifting Federation’s Executive Board and Chairman of the IWF Scientific and Research Committee, 1992 to 1996.

His Sports Palace weightlifting team has won the US National Team Championships in 1982, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, and 1989.

He has coached the following US National Champions, record holders, and Olympians:

Ken Patera, 110+, 1972, Dan Cantore, 67.5, 1972-77, Bruce Wilhelm, 110+, Jim “Butch” Curry, 90, 1978-86, Mario Martinez, 110+, 1977-96, Rachel Silverman, 52, 1982-88, Anne Lehman, 52, 1994-2008.

Jim presently coaches weightlifting in the Sports Palace “dungeon” of the gym Physique Magnifique in South San Francisco. He also teaches USA Weightlifting’s Coaching Certification Courses, as well as CrossFit Olympic lifting courses. He has written and published his own book and DVD on Olympic-style weight-lifting, and authored numerous articles including an excellent collection for MILO Magazine and IronMind.com.