SC weightlifter is tops in the US. Now coronavirus has postponed his Olympic debut
The best weightlifter in the United States and his coach are in sync, as they have been for much of the past decade in setting the path for an Olympic dream.
Beaufort’s CJ Cummings, 19, has long been assumed to have the best chance to return America to the Olympic podium in weightlifting. The sport’s governing bodies have taken steps to limit the number of athletes in the Olympics from countries with histories of doping while at the same time weightlifting is thriving in the United States.
Cummings was a lock to make his Olympics debut in Tokyo this summer, trying to become the first American weightlifter to medal since 1984. His dream has been postponed along with the games until 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak and the athletes throughout the world who aren’t able to train.
“For him to have another year to be more mature and focused, that’s scary,” said Ray Jones, Cummings’ longtime coach. “To think what he’s doing, to have more time, that’s not a bad thing ... He sees it; he digests it.”
Among the most notable names in U.S. weightlifting train with Jones in Beaufort — Cummings and Dade Stanley.
Cummings last year became the first male lifter to win four consecutive Junior World Championships. He would be the first Olympic weightlifter from South Carolina and join Beaufort lore with boxing great Joe Frazier, who won gold at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.
Cummings took a break from school studying business at USC Beaufort while preparing for the Olympics and said he’d return to classes now that the event is postponed.
“I was excited; I was looking forward to it,” Cummings said. “We were ready for it training-wise, now we just have a whole other year to train for it.”
Weightlifters qualify for the Olympics based on an International Wrestling Federation ranking that compiles points from select events over an 18-month period. Cummings is currently listed fifth in the ranking in the 73-kilogram weight class, with 13 international lifters from each weight qualifying.
USA Weightlifting officials are seeking clarification on whether current Olympic rankings are locked in for CJ and other American lifters or if they will have to qualify again.
“In either circumstance, CJ is ultimately one of the most talented athletes in the world in this sport and has been anticipated to be a force in the Olympic games worldwide for many, many years,” USA Weightlifting CEO Phil Andrews said. “We in the United States are not the only country excited to see CJ compete. He has a history-making opportunity which only CJ can grasp.”
Cummings and other Beaufort lifters have been working out a few days a week in their space at the warehouse building on Hamar Street downtown. Athletes spread apart, appropriately disinfect equipment, get work in and leave, Jones said.
On Tuesday morning Jones was preparing to get word to Cummings not to come in to lift and instead stay home and do a low-intensity workout.
COVID-19 has paused travel and the national and international competition schedule, including Cummings’ bid for a fifth Junior Worlds title. Jones is in touch with his athletes but wary first of heeding the advice of local and federal officials to limit unnecessary activity and help slow the spread.
“You do the best you can and everything else you leave in God’s hands,” Jones said. “I saw that coming a ways ago. Right now it sort of seems like No 1., everything just needs to be calmed down.”
