SANTIAGO, Chile — Bobby Body chalked his hands and energetically walked out onto the platform. He pointed to his fellow Team USA teammates, and his wife, Erin, draped in an American flag mouthing “I love you”, before waving his arms to the crowd. While it was mainly other countries’ fans that filled the bleachers in Gimnasio Chimkowe, Body, a showman and crowd favorite, had them all chanting his name. 

With the heavy metal music blaring, the U.S. army veteran psyched himself out to the music and strapped himself into the bench, preparing for his final attempt of the day. The music slowly faded and Body readjusted his grip, moving his thumbs in line with the rest of his fingers, as he prepared himself to bench press 229 kilograms of weight in a smooth, fluid motion.

He started his movement and lifted the barbell off of the rack with the spotters carefully watching. He had control of the weight on the way down, but on the way up, the exhaustion was too much and the weight became too heavy. Body struggled to get the weight back up and required assistance from the spotters to help him guide the barbell safely back to the rack. 

Body unstrapped himself and looked onto the crowd, and while he failed the attempt, there was still a smile on his face, as that lift was a victory lap. On the lift prior, Body had already clinched a gold medal with a Parapan American Games record setting 228 kilogram bench press for the Men’s up to 107kg & over 107kg competition, putting him in prime position to qualify for the Paris Paralympics. 

“I was super happy with our strategy,” Body said. “It obviously worked and I was able to hit my first, second and third attempts.” 

Before Body ever got into powerlifting, bench press used to be his weakest lift. In fact, he used to never lift heavy weights, and focused mainly on cardio, pushups and situps in his workouts. After he was injured in his deployment in Iraq in 2006, it was necessary for Body to amputate his leg. To cope with the stress and frustration, his PTSD therapist recommended going to the gym to work out. 

Through the gym he trained at, The Iron House Fitness Center, Body discovered powerlifting from the owners. Body never thought he would powerlift against non-amputees because of his physical impairment resulting in less leg-drive, but after he watched his first competition he immediately fell in love with the sport.

In his first competition, he won a gold medal, despite little competition experience. Consequently, that qualified him for nationals, in which he also earned gold. The same stayed true in Santiago for the 2023 Parapan American games, as Body soundly earned another gold medal for his resume. 

In the first round, everyone who benched before Body earned a good lift. Body was eighth in the order, and right before him Colombia’s Freddy Castaneda Velasquez successfully bench-pressed 215 kilograms. However, Castaneda Velasquez’s lead was short-lived, as Body outdid him and benched 216 kilograms cleanly on his first attempt. Body did his usual routine of chalking his hands and pumping the crowd up before bringing the barbell down to his chest and pushing it back up with ease. 

“I play with the crowd before I get on the bench,” Body said. “But once I get on the bench and start doing my wrist wraps that’s when I get dialed in.”

On his way to the backroom, Bobby pointed at the camera and held the Team USA logo on his body suit up. 

The two powerlifters after him, Brazil’s Gustavo Melo de Souza and Colombia’s Elgian Mena Lemus, both attempted higher weights than Body and got the barbell up and down, but both were deemed no lifts to the press sequence. 

On the second go around up until Body, no one benched a higher weight so he still maintained the lead. For Body, though there was a sharp increase of seven kilograms to his attempt, and he now stood at 223 kilograms total on the lift. 

The barbell was loaded with numerous plates on each side, and again, even with a heavier weight, Body had no issue in further securing his lead with a successful 223 kilogram bench press. Again, Melo de Souza and Mena Lemus both attempted higher lifts, but they each took on too much to secure a good lift, so Body entered the third round with the lead. 

This time, in his final lift before he walked out, the crowd cheered, as the TV screen alerted them that Body was adding 228 kilograms in his third lift, which was a Parapan American Games record. Body showed his usual energy in his routine, but as he strapped himself in he missed. 

Still though, he kept his calm and had the best lift of the competition. The video board was delayed leaving the crowd wondering if he earned a good lift, but Body already knew it and after the screen showed it he took a bow after becoming the new record holder.

This time, only Mena Lemus had a chance to beat Body with an ambitious 238 kilogram lift, but similar to his first two results, he did not earn a good lift due to his press sequence which solidified Body as the competition’s gold medalist.

Sticking to the tradition, the venue played the United States national anthem in respect to the winner, to which Body couldn’t help but get visibly emotional to. 

“It’s not very often you hear the national anthem at these,” Body said. “I’m really proud of everything we trained for.”