76 Year-Old Sri Chinmoy Lifts 7 Aircraft

page created by Jwalanta Voelckner last modified 2007-08-02 09:42 AM

July 29, 2007 [Shirley, NY] – Amidst roaring aircraft engines, rumbling thunder and astonished ground crew, 76 year-old fitness champion Sri Chinmoy power-lifted 7 light aircraft this afternoon in a massive demonstration of strength and inner will. Sri Chinmoy lifted a total of 16,189 pounds in just a couple of hours—including a Schweitzer glider aircraft with just his right arm at 545 pounds while seated!

76 Year-Old Sri Chinmoy Lifts 7 Aircraft

Sri Chinmoy's seated one arm lift of the Schweitzer glider.

Dozens of enthusiasts and fitness advocates joined the strongman at Brookhaven Calabro Airport in Shirley, New York to witness this feat of sheer determination and concentration.

Age-defying athlete Sri Chinmoy said, “I am 76 years old. I live in the heart. When we live in the heart, we have no obstructions, no barriers. If we live in the heart, where there is oneness, nothing is impossible. Everything is possible."

Using custom-made apparatuses, Sri Chinmoy lifted a Schweitzer I-26E glider at 545 lbs. with his right arm from a seated overhead position; then 4 light aircrafts [CT Light Sport at 1014lbs, Evektor Sportsar 750 at 980lbs, 1942 Culver Cadet at 1149lbs, RV4 at 1214lbs] overhead on a modified standing calf-raise machine, and two air show planes—a Globe Swift at 2252lbs and Xtra 300 at 2455lbs--on a standing calf-raise platform.

Today’s lifts have capped an extraordinary journey for Sri Chinmoy. Now having lifted a total of 33 airplanes, he has paid tribute to the role of this class of airplanes in aviation history. Not only the pioneers to modern jet aviation, light aircraft continue to play a vital role in search and rescue missions.

Jim Smith, registrar of the British Amateur Weightlifters Association and noted strength expert, said “Sri Chinmoy is a marvellous example of what human beings have the potential to do.”

Five-time Mr. Universe and renowned fitness expert Bill Pearl said, “Sri Chinmoy is still achieving at age 76 what the greatest strength athletes could never do in their prime!”

In July 2003, Sri Chinmoy celebrated the “Century of Flight” at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington by lifting overhead 100 pilots and presenting each of them a special award – the Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart medallion. He, too, was honored on that day as an Honorary Member of the Civil Air Patrol of the United States Air Force.

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