EDITOR'S NOTE: A version of this article originally appeared on SooToday on July 12. It is being republished here for readers who may have missed it.
For the Sault’s Marty Dimma, it's "mission accomplished."
The local auto mechanic, who has competed as an arm wrestler at the provincial, national and international levels since 1990, has long remembered losing his quest for a gold medal to Nova Scotia’s Will Sarty at the 2013 Canadian Armwrestling Championship.
Dimma did well at that event, winning a gold medal in the Masters class for competitors over the age of 40 and took silver in the 60 kilogram weight class, but lost the gold in that same weight class in a match with Sarty.
Ten years later, Dimma is back from the 2023 Canadian Armwrestling Championship held over the Canada Day long weekend in Sydney, Nova Scotia with two bronze medals.
One is from a victory in the Grand Masters class for competitors over the age of 50, the other for a win over Sarty in the 70 kilogram weight class.
“I was waiting for this rematch for 10 years,” Dimma told SooToday.
“The reason it took so long is because from 2013 to 2016 I was busy and I just didn’t get the chance to go to the Nationals again, but in 2016 I was off work for two years because I had degenerative vertebrae in my neck. They had to replace one and fuse others together so I was off for two years with no training,” Dimma said.
Returning to work in 2018, he resumed training for arm wrestling tournaments but the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020 and shut the sport down.
“But, I kept training and finally had the opportunity,” Dimma said.
He qualified for the 2023 Canadian Armwrestling Championship after competing in the Provincials in May.
“I was pretty nervous going to the Nationals because it was 10 years since I had arm wrestled at that level,” Dimma said.
Nervousness aside, he travelled to the Nationals and achieved his goals.
Dimma wrestled with Sarty twice at the tournament.
“Both matches were full-out wars. They were well over a minute. Usually matches don’t last long but he and I were going back and forth. I was close to the pin, then I was close to getting beat. It was back and forth,” Dimma said.
“It was a big load taken off my shoulders because I set that goal to win 10 years ago. It feels like a relief."
The two men spoke after Dimma’s victory.
“He told me it was a long time since he was in a brutal war like that. I told him the same thing. He’s probably the toughest I’ve had to go up against.”
“We talked and I was really proud to have that moment with him because he told me he was retiring. He’s from Nova Scotia and he’s competed in most of the provinces in Canada and he wanted to wrap up his arm wrestling career at home. That’s why he went into this tournament, to retire. I was the last person to compete with him,” Dimma said.
Dimma said there is no bitterness between the two athletes.
“It was a friendly rivalry. He and I have been friends for a long time. I met him in 2013 and we ended up on Team Canada together after the Nationals that year. We went to Poland with Team Canada during the Worlds and we’ve been good friends ever since. July 1st was the first time I’d seen him in 10 years.”
Dimma plans to take the rest of the summer off, away from arm wrestling, but intends to resume training in the fall for the 2024 Provincials in Sudbury and the 2024 Nationals in Gatineau, Quebec.
He trains through upper body workouts that include using a table with a pulley system.
Dimma is also a member of the Steel City Slammers, a local arm wrestling group.
“I like the competition,” Dimma said of arm wrestling.
“It’s a show of strength when you come out on top. It’s the camaraderie of the whole thing. All the people I’ve met in arm wrestling are just great people. Everybody has a lot of respect for each other.”