Barrett the Moose is like the Gretzky of powerlifting
Special Olympian record-breaker declined ESPN fame to stay focused
Three days into retirement as a Special Olympics powerlifter, Jackie Barrett dutifully reported to his day job as a homebased webmaster for a private school.
The self-proclaimed “Newfoundland Moose” initially bristled when a pesky reporter tracked him down to talk about his record-shattering performances at the 2015 Special Olympics World Games.
A chest-thumping egomaniac, he is not.
“I’m just back in my normal routine,” the 41-year-old said from Gillams, NL. “It’s quiet here, and I like it. In Special Olympics, you learn early on not to do these things for recognition. You have to do these things to improve yourself.”
Recognition is one way to describe the response Barrett received last weekend at the powerlifting finale in Los Angeles. Greeted by a reception fitting of a Hollywood star, Barrett treated the capacity crowd to a scene worthy of the big screen.
With the crowd chanting “Moose, Moose, Moose,” he hoisted 297.5 kilograms in the deadlift to break the record set by P.G Griffin in 1999.
In the squat, his golden mark of 277.5 kg established a Newfoundland and Labrador generic record in the super-heavyweight division (generic means pertaining to the general population, not just Special Olympians).
After bringing the bar down to safety, Barrett screamed: “I am the Moose!” The crowd, predictably, went wild.
With a combined score of 697.5 kilograms, the Moose won the overall gold medal, bringing his total to three gold and one silver in Los Angeles.
On the spot, Barrett retired from a Special Olympics career that spanned four World Games and saw him win 15 medals.
Via Twitter, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Paul Davis congratulated Barrett for his amazing performance.
“What separates Jackie from his competitors is his focus,” said Ross MacIntosh, the powerlifting coach for Special Olympics Canada. “He is the Wayne Gretzky or Michael Jordan of powerlifting.”
Given his celebrity status, ESPN invited Barrett to appear last week on Sports Center. He politely declined, saying he needed to concentrate on his lifting in advance of the competition.
“Just imagine what all those professional athletes out there would do for exposure like that,” McIntosh said. “But Jackie didn’t want to disappoint all the people who came all that way to watch him.”
Like his Special Olympics competitors, Barrett is intellectually challenged. He has autism and speaks in choppy sentences in monotones.
Barrett credits his late mother for helping him succeed both in and out of the gym. Jeannee Barrett died in October 2014 of lung cancer.
Jackie’s father, Robert, took a small urn of Jeannee’s ashes to Los Angeles and presented it to his son during the victory celebration.
“I’m now retired from Special Olympics competition,” Barrett said. “It makes me sad, because I’ve been used to competing in Special Olympics, but it gives me a chance to fulfil my late mom’s legacy, which is to coach powerlifting at the Special Olympics.”
Throughout the years, Jeannee volunteered for Special Olympics as a coach. She also urged her son to further his schooling, and he earned a commerce degree from St. Mary’s University in Halifax.
“Jackie has natural athletic ability just like Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan have natural ability,” MacIntosh said. “But what made both those guys so successful is that they looked at their weak areas and found ways to get better. Wayne Gretzky was small, so he got fast. Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school basketball team. He knew he had areas he needed to get better in, and he did that.
“Jackie was small. They were scared he would get hurt in high school football, so he lifted weights. And now look what he has done.”
Barrett lives in the town of Gillams, population 411. Competing in Los Angeles proved a major dose of culture shock.
“They treated me like a rock star,” he said. “Everywhere I went, volunteers and fans were asking me for pictures all the time. I found it all a bit overwhelming.”
To unwind, Barrett plans to head out on vacation next week to an undisclosed location.
“I’d rather not reveal where I’m going,” he said. “I prefer to have my privacy.”