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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Jess Molyneux

Merseyside great-grandad is wrestling lads a third of his age

A retired scaffolder from Huyton is representing Great Britain in a major amateur wrestling competition - despite being a 66-year-old grandad.

Tony Collins, who has 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild, regularly competes against men 40 years his junior.

And he plans to continue wrestling into his 70s.

He said: "In the gym, everybody is flabbergasted.

Tony Collins, from Huyton, who is still wrestling competitively at age 66 (Liverpool Echo/James Maloney)

"I normally train and also compete against fellas up to 40 years younger than me and on some occasions I have defeated them.

"They say, 'My god Tony, he's 20 odd years older than my dad and here he is now hammering us on the mat'."

Tony, who trains at BodyTorque Gym in Huyton , has had a passion for wrestling since he was in his 20s.

Tony Collins doing box jumps at BodyTorque Gym in Huyton. (Photo by James Maloney)

Now retired, he says he has more time to train "much harder".

He said: "I was a scaffolder and I used to wrestle with poles and boards doing work.

"I was one of those fellas in school who never ran, played football or anything at all.

"Then I was married, I had kids, and when I was 24 someone brought me up to the old Kirkby sports centre and I saw these lads wrestling. I said 'wow, what is that'.

"The first night I got on the mat and started picking experienced lads up in the air and slamming them on the floor - and I thought, this is the sport for me."

Tony's achievements include winning the Lancashire Championships, the English Championships in 2016 and being the first British man to win the USA Nationals, which took place in Vegas last April.

He has competed all around the world in places including Russia, Ukraine, USA, Poland, Belgium and France.

He said: "'It's an amateur sport, we only do it for pride and honour, nobody pays us or anything."

Tony Collins, still trains and wrestles competitively despite being into his 60s. (Photo by James Maloney)

Next month, Tony will travel to Poland to represent Great Britain at the World Championships for Greco Wrestling and Freestyle Wrestling.

He said: "This is my first time that I will be competing against fellas my own age, so who knows I may win the World Championships this time.

"I am representing Knowsley all over the world and Great Britain.

"I feel very lucky. I feel the gods of wrestling are looking down on me."

As part of his training, Tony climbs ropes, does box jumps, flips tyres, sprints and does pull-ups, chin-ups and barrel slams -  and practises his trademark moves such as the double-leg takedown.

He encourages everyone, regardless of age or ability, to keep fit and healthy.

He said: "When I was a young man and was first wrestling, I read this book about an Ancient Greek wrestler called Milo of Croton who was a wrestler who used to win all the competitions in the ancient world.

"When he became older, he became corrupt and never trained and lost all of his power and strength.

"He would wander around the gyms and think 'I used to be like those big and strong men'.

"That story kept in my head and I thought to myself that will never happen to me. I will still carry on training."

Will he continue training and wrestling in his 70s? "Yes," replied Tony.

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