06/03/2026
Kyle Adler, owner of Colorado Weightlifting in Denver, always knew he was adopted, but it wasn’t until his adoptive parents passed away that he decided to look into his birth family. At 28 years old, he found that he was stolen as an infant under the Pinochet regime in Chile, and trafficked to the United States as an adoptee.
Earlier this year, with the help of Connecting Roots, Adler reconnected with his biological mother for the first time.
“Obviously, it was a big deal because it was the first time I’d ever been reunited with my mom and family since I was taken,” Adler said. “Just being with my family, going to the beach, having the days together… we had a lot of opportunities to grow and begin to form bonds that I didn’t have before.”
On top of the close bonds that he was able to form throughout ten days in his native country, Adler was able to explore the strength training situation in his hometown and even meet with the Chilean Weightlifting team. Now, he has new goals for Colorado Weightlifting that stretch far beyond state borders.
“The biggest thing for me is the participation of youth in strength training,” Adler said. “Kids in Chile really need a place where they can go. My goal is to bring more weightlifting awareness to that community. I walked around my hometown and there were a few gyms, but there’s not really anything that has to do with what we do. So, it gave me a lot more passion to use what I’ve learned from USA Weightlifting and what I’ve done in Colorado to help grow and give back to the community that I came from.”
Read Kyle’s full story now at usaweightlifting.org, and also look for the AP News feature on Kyle’s reunification.
