Kim Granzow competes in the American Open Series No. 2 national weightlifting event in Albuquerque. Courtesy photo

Kim Granzow visits with the Los Alamos Reporter. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com

Kim Granzow trains at CrossFit Los Alamos, 278 DP Road. Courtesy photo

BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter

Kim Granzow has qualified for the World Masters Games in Kansai, Japan, from May 13-29, 2022. The games are held in the year after the Olympics. They were started in Toronto, Canada in 1985 and the most recent World Masters Games were held in Auckland, New Zealand in 2017.

The 2022 Games will include 59 events and 35 sports, and Granzow qualified in weightlifting.

“I’ve been Olympic weightlifting for about three years. My daughter got me into CrossFit. She is my weightlifting coach,” Granzow told the Los Alamos Reporter in a recent interview.

She works out for two hours three times a week at CrossFit Los Alamos studio at 278 DP Road where she actually films her workouts and sends them to her daughter, Rachel, in Albuquerque to critique.

“Rachel came to me about three years ago and told me her gym in Albuquerque was hosting a weightlifting competition. She said there was no entry on the state record for my weight class and my age and that no matter what I lifted I was going to set a state record,” Granzow said.

At that time, Granzow was in the 58 kg category. Currently her weight class is greater than 59 and less than 64 kg. Her age group now is 65-69, she admitted reluctantly.

She said she hasn’t been doing CrossFit itself since she started weightlifting.

“I’ve been going to the gym. I love the people there, they’re my family. I go there in the morning and I do my weightlifting stuff,” Granzow said.

She traveled to Albuquerque for the American Open Series No. 2, a national weightlifting meet, not just for Masters. Masters competitors are for people 35 and older.  She said there were young people there as well as people in their 70s.

“That’s where I qualified for the World Masters Games. My total that qualified me was 64 kg which was a combination of my Snatch and my Clean & Jerk. Snatch is from the ground overhead in one motion and Clean & Jerk is from the ground to the shoulder and then from the shoulder over the head,” Granzow said.

The process is very complicated for who gets selected to go to Japan out of those who qualify like Granzow did.  

“They limit it to 800 weightlifters from throughout the world. Anyone who wants to go has to register and they rank them. Each country is only allowed five and they pick the top five. If you’re a country that has only one athlete they give you preference because they don’t want to exclude the little guys. My age group and my weight class only allow 12 people from throughout the world. So I’m not holding my breath that I make the cutoff,” she said. “I qualified with 64 kg. There are women in the country that can lift 115 total. It would be awesome if I got to go to Japan. I’m just thrilled that I qualified. “

Granzow thinks she might take a break from weightlifting and just go back to CrossFit until she finds out if she is selected. She believes she will know by Dec. 20 if she made the cut.

Off and on throughout her life, Granzow said she has been very athletic.

“When my kids were babies I walked with them. I put them in the stroller and powerwalked almost every day. When Rachel was a baby I would go the gym and do the Jane Fonda-type exercises. I did step aerobics.  Off and on, I’ve always tried to stay active.,” she said

She had never even heard of  CrossFit when she first started.

“I  fell in love with it because it’s different every day. You do not do the same thing every day. I used to do that. I used to do a routine but with CrossFit, it’s totally varied and it can translate to real life. I have to be able to squat, I have to be able to bend to pick a box up or lift something up to put it overhead in a closet. CrossFit is very functional,” she said.

There’s another reason Granzow would like to make the trip to Japan next year. When she was nine years old, she lived in Japan with her parents and her two younger brothers in Yokahama and Tokyo.

“It would be wonderful to go back there,” she said.

Editor’s note: Sadly, since the interview, Granzow has been notified that the Games have been canceled and the next Games will be held in 2026. She told the Reporter she is happy to have qualified for the event.