For the first time in 40 years, an American man has won an Olympic medal in weightlifting
Hampton Morris, a 20-year-old who trains primarily out of the garage at his family's Georgia home,
ended the decadeslong drought by winning bronze at the 2024 Paris Games on Wednesday.
Between the two types of lifts in Olympic weightlifting − snatch, and clean and jerk
the 135-pound Morris hoisted a combined weight of 298 kilograms, which is about 657 pounds.
And in the process, he made history. Although American women won weightlifting
medals in each of the past two editions of the Summer Games,
a U.S. man hadn't done so since 1984 − a whopping 20 years before Morris was born.
Mario Martinez (silver) and Guy Carlton (bronze) each won medals at those 1984 Olympics, which were held in Los Angeles.
"It's amazing that I'm able to leave that kind of mark in the sport," Morris said. "I'm just in disbelief."
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