About Mark Cannella

 Mark Cannella

An Olympic Coach from 2012, Mark is the head coach and president of Columbus Weightlifting. He has been part of the lifting community as a lifter, coach, administrator and official for almost 30 years.

Club Affiliation:
Mark is currently the Head Coach and President of Columbus Weightlifting and has served in these roles since 2001.  He has served in many capacities in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, which includes:

Manager/Coach:
Senior International Coach, USAW.                                                                                                               

Team Manager of USA Team for Junior Worlds 2011; Penang, Malaysia.
Women’s Coach of World University Games in 2013; Kazan, Russia.
Personal Coach for Olympics 2012, London, England. Personal Coach for athlete, 2014 Worlds, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Coach of the year, 2012, Ohio including an induction into the Ohio Weightlifting Hall of Fame, 2014, Coach/Athlete.

Liaison at the Arnold to World class athletes including multiple Gold medalists and World record holders for the last 16 years.

VP for Local Weightlifting in Ohio, Since 2016

Meet Director for 2016 Ohio State & Midwest Championships

Athlete production:
A 2012 Olympian, Top Ten placement. 2014 World Championship Athlete, 13th place, 2014 USAW National Champion,

A 2012 Collegiate Champion and 2011 American Open Champion.
A 2010 World Team Member and 2010 2nd place finisher at US Nationals.
A 2012 World University Qualified Member and Nationally ranked lifter
Multiple US National Competitors from 2002 to 2014, with highest placement of 1st and 2nd & top five. 

Numerous Ohio State Championship winners and Multiple Ohio Team titles since 2002

Arnold Weightlifting Championships:
Founder and a Meet Director of the Arnold Weightlifting Championships since its inception in 2003. (Now in its 17th consecutive year.)
Co-Meet Director of USA Nationals 2008.

Meet Director of USA Nationals & USA Olympic Trials, 2012.

Meet Director of the AO1 Series, 2018, scheduled 2019.
Meet Director of multiple Pan-Am and World Qualifiers at the Arnold Weightlifting Championships, various years from 2007 to 2018.
Part of committee team and TV crew for 2015, 2017 and 2019 World Weightlifting Championships, Houston, TX, Anaheim, CA and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.


USAW & Speaking Engagements:
Assisted with current content of USAW WSPCC and AWSPC courses. 

A lead instructor of USAW courses that includes teaching at locations around the world.
Presented at various NSCA conferences: Marian University, 2017, Ohio State University, 2011 and Denison University, 2010.

Presented at Asian Fit Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, Olympic Weightlifting, 2014 through 2016, 2018 including two Olympic Weightlifting Competitions.  

Competitor:
Competed as an athlete for approximately 20 years.
At 40 years old, competed at US Nationals.
A 3rd place finish at the American Open, 83kg class.

 

Auxiliary:
Worked with the Cirque Du Soleil, OVO group, May 2017.

Worked with US Armed Forces in Baghdad, Iraq at the Victory Base Camp for 6 months.  Included was a competition in the clean & jerk. 2008.

 

Referee:
Local LWC referee