However easygoing his grin, Jim Pope is not a man to mess with.The 20-year veteran of the Fairfax County Sheriff's Departmentweighs 325 pounds, works out at a gym in three-hour increments andrecently broke four world weightlifting records at an athleticcompetition second only to the Summer Olympics in size.
'I can still compete with the kids,' said Pope, a Loudoun Countyresident and master deputy sheriff who started lifting weights inhigh school.
Pope, 50, made his mark at the World Police and Fire Games, a 10-day event for first responders that, organizers announced recently,Fairfax County will host in 2015.
Held biennially since 1985, the games feature about 65 sports.They include traditional favorites, such as track and field andbasketball, and career-specific ones, such as police dog explosivesand narcotics detection.
The 2009 games, hosted by Vancouver, British Columbia, early thismonth, attracted more than 10,500 competitors, nearly twice thenumber of athletes and officials expected for the 2010 WinterOlympics, also in Vancouver.
Despite the competition's size, Pope had never heard of it untila committee toured Fairfax in 2006, during the county's first bid tobe a host city. The county lost to Belfast for the 2013 games.
Having competed as an amateur weightlifter since 1988, Pope wasintrigued enough to fly to Australia for the 2007 games. There, hewon a silver medal in the bench press and a gold in the push/pullevent, which combines the bench press with a dead lift.
Videos posted online from this year's event show Pope's record-breaking efforts in a hotel ballroom before a crowd of cheeringonlookers. He bench-pressed 418 pounds Aug. 5, demolishing the oldrecord of 352 pounds and winning a gold medal. Three days later, hewon a second gold and broke other records when he lifted a combined1,127.5 pounds in the push-pull.
'I don't go to beat somebody else; I go to compete againstmyself,' said Pope, who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes fouryears ago and continues exercising, at least in part, to 'keep onefoot out of the grave.'
Competitors pay for their airfare and lodging, and the costs havelimited the number of local participants in the Police and FireWorld Games, said 2nd Lt. Bruce Blechl of Fairfax County police.
'There are only a handful who attend' from the county's police,fire and sheriff's departments, said Blechl, a runner who has beencompeting in the games' cross-country events since 1997. 'For thesize we have and the reputation we have, I thought we wereunderrepresented at these games.'
That might change when the games are here in 2015, said Blechl,executive director of Team Fairfax, a nonprofit group established in2005 to bring the games to the county.
The World Police and Fire Games Federation chose Fairfax overToronto and Winnipeg, Canada, to host the 2015 event. Openingceremonies will be at Nationals Stadium in the District, but most ofthe events will be in Northern Virginia, including at George MasonUniversity, Manassas National Battlefield Park and Quantico MarineCorps Base. The athletic village will be in Reston and closingceremonies at Wolf Trap. All events will be free to spectators.
'It's about showcasing Fairfax,' Sheriff Stan G. Barry (D) said,'so people actually come to Fairfax and spend time in Fairfax.'
More than 10,000 athletes are expected to descend on the regionbetween June 26 and July 5, 2015, infusing an estimated $35 millioninto the local economy.
Pope said he is looking forward to the proximity.
'It'll be less expensive,' he said.
And a home-team advantage?
'I hope so,' he said. 'And new records to set.'
