[CJ CUMMINGS


] CJ’S MAGICAL YEAR By Kevin Farley The last time an American male set a


world record in weightlifting, Richard Nix- on was in the White House. It cost 6 cents to mail a letter and a gallon of milk set you back $1.15. On May 16, 1970, Artie Drechsler set


two Junior World Records at Junior Na- tionals in Brentwood, New York. “I broke two World Records in the


Press, 145kg then 150kg, then I broke the three lift total record by doing 450kg,” Drechsler told USA Weightlifting. “Although no one knew it at the time,


my lifts, very sadly, marked the end of an era in which male lifters from the US were breaking world records with regularity,” Drechsler said. That all changed in June, when Beaufort,


South Carolina’s Clarence “CJ” Cummings stepped onto the platform at the Interna- tional Weightlifting Federation’s


World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia. There, three weeks after his 16th birth-


day, Cummings clean & jerked 175kg, set- ting a new Youth World Record. Moments later he broke his own record with a 180kg lift. He totaled 317kg at the meet, setting a new world record, and earning his crown as world champion.


Junior It was the first time an American set


a World Record since Robin Goad set a Senior World Record in 1994 and the first American male to do it since Drechsler’s lifts back in 1970. Cummings followed up his historic


performance four months later at the 2016 IWF World Youth Championships in Penang, Malaysia. In his second clean & jerk, Cummings lifted 182kg, breaking his Youth World Record by 2kg. He tied his World Record in the total with 317kg. Then, just weeks later at the 2016 American Open, Cummings set new American Youth, Junior and Senior records with a 138kg snatch and 183kg clean & jerk, an unofficial new world record. It took more than four decades for an


American male to break an IWF World Record. CJ Cummings did it four times in 2016. His sheer strength is not only impressive, it has left many weightlifting watchers, and his coach, speechless. “They say, ‘The bottom line is we really


can’t tell you why,’” Cummings’ coach Ray Jones said. “There’s no explanation for it. There’s no explanation for why CJ is do- ing what he’s doing.”


JOSEF SZAKA, IWF “I was surprised by all of the World Re-


cords,” Cummings said. Cummings’ weightlifting resume reads


like a lifter who’s competed for a lifetime. Two World Championships, two Youth World Records, 25 American Records. But for Cummings, he says he’s “just a teen- ager” and balances school, training and trying to live life like a normal 16-year-old. “When he’s not in the gym, he’s usually on his cell phone, or watching TV, or play-


CJ CUMMINGS SMILES ON THE PLATFORM IN JUNE AT THE 2016 JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN TBILISI, GEORGIA, AS HE BECOMES THE FIRST AMERICAN MALE IN MORE THAN 40 YEARS TO BREAK A WORLD RECORD.


CJ CUMMINGS BREAKS HIS OWN YOUTH WORLD RECORD WITH 182KG CLEAN & JERK AT THE 2016 YOUTH WORLD CHAMPION- SHIPS IN PENANG, MALAYSIA IN NOVEMBER.


GREGOR WINTER, IWF 10 >> USAWEIGHTLIFTING.ORG


CJ CUMMINGS LEAPS INTO THE ARMS OF HIS COACH, RAY JONES, MOMENTS AFTER SETTING A NEW YOUTH WORLD RECORD WITH 182KG CLEAN & JERK.


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