The rising popularity of these lifts may be partly attributable to the popularity of CrossFit, which emphasizes Olympic-style lifting. A Brooklyn, N.Y., program called CrossFit Virtuosity offers a class called Olympic Weightlifting. “We place a heavy emphasis on Olympic Weightlifting due to the sport’s unique ability to develop an athlete’s explosive power, control of external objects and mastery of critical motor recruitment patterns,” says the CrossFit Virtuosity website.
Actually, this trend represents a return to an age when Olympic-style lifting was prevalent in American weight rooms. In the history of the modern Olympics, dating to 1896, America ranks third in medals behind China and the Soviet Union/Russia.
Now, American weightlifting leaders are hoping for a return to those glory days. Only three U.S. weightlifters qualified for the London Games, compared with 10 for China. So the first step is for the U.S. team to do well at the IWF World Weightlifting Championship in Houston in November. “We anticipate sending more people to Rio than we did to London,” said USA Weightlifting’s Massik.
It remains to be seen whether Cummings will be one of them. To make the cut, an athlete must be ranked high internationally in his weight class, and to get there the teenager must continue to execute eye-popping lifts, starting with a meet next month in Mexico.
His coach, Rayford Jones, won’t entertain any talk of Cummings ending America’s weightlifting medal drought in Rio. “This is a 15-year-old boy, and we’re going slow and steady,” Jones said. “But you give this boy four years beyond Rio, you talk about the Tokyo Olympics, well, now that’s a real opportunity.”
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