Olivia Reeves to lead USA weightlifting team at Paris 2024 Olympics
Talented youngsters Olivia Reeves and Hampton Morris head the United States’ five-strong weightlifting team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
USA Weightlifting announced on Friday that its five athletes – one shy of the maximum three lifters per gender per nation in Paris – would be Jourdan Delacruz (women’s 49 kg), Wes Kitts (men’s 102 kg), Hampton Morris (men’s 61 kg), Olivia Reeves (women’s 71 kg), and Mary Theisen-Lappen (women’s +81 kg).
“This is an extremely talented and well-placed team and I’m excited to bring each of them to Paris,” said Mike Gattone, USA Weightlifting Senior Director of Sport Performance. “We have five team members, and four of them are ranked top-five in their weight category. It’s historic for USA Weightlifting to bring that much depth into the Olympics. The outlook and health of our team is exceptional.”
Our team is set! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/oKAATOivtJ
— USA Weightlifting (@USWeightlifting) May 24, 2024
The United States won two medals at Tokyo 2020 with Kate Nye taking 76kg silver and Sarah Robles +87kg bronze. Nye, now known as Vibert, was one of a number of athletes to struggle following the reduction of Olympic weight classes from 14 to 10.
Reigning Pan American Games champion Reeves set new American records in the snatch, clean and jerk and total at April’s final Olympic qualifier in Phuket, Thailand. That total of 268kg put the 21-year-old on top of the Olympic rankings and she will be the favourite for gold in Paris.
No man has won an Olympic weightlifting medal since Los Angeles 1984 but 20-year-old Morris will be hopeful of ending that run. He set a new clean and jerk world record of 176kg in Phuket to go second in the rankings although his total of 303kg still leaves him 11kg behind China’s reigning world and Olympic champion Li Fabin.
SHE DOES IT AGAIN! 71 kg clean and jerk 🚨AMERICAN RECORD🚨for Olivia Reeves! She lifts 150 kg to sweep GOLD at the IWF World Cup!🥇🥇🥇🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/eHMd6DVgQP
— USA Weightlifting (@USWeightlifting) April 7, 2024
Delacruz is ranked fourth in the world and won bronze at last year’s World Championships. Now 26, she was in bronze medal position after the snatch at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but failed to make a lift in the clean and jerk.
Kitts also competed in Tokyo in the old 109kg category where he finished eighth. Despite being outside the top 10 in the rankings, the former American football running back earned his spot in Paris as the top lifter in his weight class from the Pan-American region.
Theisen-Lappen will make her Olympic debut in Paris having only starting lifting competitively six years ago. The 33-year-old took silver at last year’s World Championships with Tokyo medallist Robles in fifth place. At fifth in the rankings, she has an outside chance of a medal in the French capital.