Weightlifting in the USA: Professional Amateurs

Weightlifting is the forgotten cousin of the professional era. Forever doomed to the basement of industrial complexes, the back halls of crossfit boxes, and home garages of the die hard lifter. The once mighty sport of Olympic Lifting has been left in the amateur era by the advent of Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, Strongman, and Crossfit.

Back in the early 50's and 60's teenage athletes would go to their school gym and be taught the Olympic lifts. It was a part of the curriculum. Then Powerlifting came along and very soon became the go to sport for those wishing to make it big in Football. Powerlifting gave you size, bulk and strength. Very soon the Olympic lifts were all but forgotten in place of the Bench, Squat and dead-lift. A decade or so later the Sport of Bodybuilding became popularized by the advent of the Mr Universe Competition. Bodybuilders had taken advantage of these machines that were developed by rehab specialists to isolate individual joints and muscle groups. What they found was that by isolating the muscles around a single joint they could make greater gains in Mass. It wasn't long before the general populous caught on to this trend, and what developed is what most of us now know as the commercial gymnasium. The New York Sports, Equinox or Crunch. All of these aspects combined left Olympic lifting as the forgotten art of strength training. Only to be practiced and coached by those special few whom humbly stumbled  upon the sport by accident. I was only recruited into the sport by an observant teacher in High school after he identified I had the necessary attributes to succeed in the sport. 

Of all the sports I mentioned earlier I have to give Crossfit a shout out here. Crossfit has done more for the resurgence of Olympic Weightlifting in the last Decade than any other sport has done in the last 50 years. US weightlifting's membership has almost doubled since the advent of crossfit. Crossfit in essence acts as the pipeline and talent identification system for US weightlifting. More People are doing the Olympic lifts than ever before thanks to Crossfit. It is for this reason that I embraced the culture and am a proponent and firm believer of Crossfit.

Lastly, until Sponsors and broadcast corporations get on board with Weightlifting in the US we have no chance of competing internationally, let alone attaining an Olympic Gold. Most of the US's top Olympic weightlifters have full time jobs and train before and after work in order to achieve what they have. Imagine if we could have a full team of Olympic lifters training 24/7 over the course of several years while being fully supported financially, getting the best possible coaching we have to offer. I am not just talking about having their accommodation and Supplements paid for. I am talking about a team of Professional Weightlifters making salaries comparable to other professional sports. That is my dream, that is my goal. Only then will USA weightlifting be able regain its place as a Weightlifting Superpower.