PARIS, France — Marietta's Hampton Morris made an audacious bid for silver in the 61kg weightlifting class at the Paris Olympics, but will still be thrilled to be coming home with bronze.
Morris needed an extra six kilograms on his clean & jerk attempt to surpass Thailand's Theerapong Silacahi -- so he went for it. The 178kg attempt would have set a world record.
He wasn't able to complete the attempt, but with a combined 298kg between the clean and jerk weight he did complete (172kg) and snatch weight (126kg), Morris was still able to finish third.
Morris was coached by his father Tripp Morris and primarily trains out of a home gym. He began competing at 12 years old and, now at 20, has set 10 world records and owns 20 American records across youth, junior and senior levels.
He arrived in Paris on the heels of winning silver at the IWF World Cup in Thailand this year, and he has previously won three golds at the Pan American Games. He won gold last year at the World Championships for his class in the clean & jerk but did not complete a snatch lift to place overall at the event.
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