53-year-old Irish weightlifter with replaced knee and hip sets two new world records

And he did it all despite having a hip and knee replacement.

An Irish weightlifter took home set two new world records and won a gold medal at the Deadlift World Championships in Manchester earlier this month, despite having two debilitating injuries which had brought his career to a halt some 15 years ago. 53-year-old Liam Beville had been a competitive Powerlifter since 1986, having represented Ireland at many World Championships - winning a bronze medal at one - before retiring in 2003. He's also responsible for the greatest ever deadlift done by an Irish man, a record that still stands 26 years after he set it in the first place. His love for the sport brought him back to it recently, albeit with an urge to tackle it somewhat differently. The Limerick native – knowing that his hips and knees have seen better days – decided to go down the mental route, opting for a few sessions of hypnosis therapy to try trick his mind back into champion mode. Image via Powerlifting Ireland However, his lifetime goal was a world championship gold medal and a world record. Beville just about qualified at the National Championships back in February and he knew that if he was to win at the World Championships, he needed to do something about his nerves. “We had heard of hypnosis being used by boxers and golfers so I attended the D4 clinic on O’Connell Street, Limerick, where Enda O’Shea taught me techniques on how to relax and visualise," Beville said. "He gave me exercises to take with me to competitions and I put these into practice.” Beville attended the Deadlift World Championships in Manchester at the start of August, where he applied the methods that O'Shea taught him – eventually leading him to victory. “I set a new World Record on two occasions for the 67.5 kg weight division in the Masters 3 category and won a gold medal in the process," Beville said. He puts the success down to hypnosis, something which he says has allowed him to accomplish all of his life goals. "I had minimal nerves and was full of composure, which is all down to the techniques I had been shown. I accomplished all my life goals in Powerlifting and I could not have done this without help from Enda and hypnosis.”