Topic: News: Jeff Wittmer has weight on his shoulders

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Weight on his shoulders
Jeff Wittmer's goal is to compete in the 2008 Olympics
By Allen Vaughan

As Jeff Wittmer crouched over the bar loaded with 45-pound plates, a state of serenity came over him.

Oblivious to the junior high kids skipping through their workouts or the chorus of free weights clanking at St. John's Sports Medicine HealthTracks Training Center on Thursday, Wittmer let the years of training take over.

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He zoned out.

He cleaned.

He jerked.

He smiled ... eventually.

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A small audience of coaches, trainers and athletes witnessed Wittmer set a personal record in the clean-and-jerk at 196 kilos (nearly 432 pounds) that afternoon, pulling the weight from the floor to his chest in one motion and then lifting the bar over his head in the second phase.

During the casual workout, the bar was packed with more weight than the one that qualified him for the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which begin July 13.

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And down the road, lifts like that might just get him in the Olympics, the first graduate of Springfield's burgeoning weightlifting Olympic Community Development Program.

"I feel like I have a pretty good shot as long as I can stay healthy," Wittmer said. "The Pan Am Games are just another stepping stone."

Wittmer began training and competing at age 11 and won the first 50 meets he entered. He is a six-time Junior National Champion and three-time Collegiate National Champion, and qualified as an alternate to the 2004 Olympic team. Wittmer's appearance in the Pan Am Games is the latest in a fantastic 2007.

In May, Wittmer won his second consecutive national championship in the 94-kilo weight class, qualifying for Rio de Janeiro with a clean and jerk of 193 kilos. He also had a snatch — lifting the barbells from a platform to a locked-arms position overhead — of 152 kilos.

Despite his phenom-like success, it's unfair to call Wittmer a machine, although it's easy to marvel at his cartoon character-like strength.

The 22-year-old St. Louis native and No. 5-ranked weightlifter in the United States is too engaging, too candid to be labeled a weightlifting robot. But the way he and his football player-like physique handles the pounds has a clinical style, indicative of training that has reached into a decade.

The strength of that performance alone now has Wittmer on the verge of cashing in on years of work, with a shot to earn a medal. Wittmer's coach, Scott Johnson, said his pupil is growing into his weight class, nearly filling out the 94 kilos.

The master plan is coming together.

"He's getting stronger and he's very dedicated," Johnson said. "He knows what he wants."

Wittmer's maturity is the primary reason he jumped up to No. 5 in the U.S. — No. 1 in his weight class. Naturally, he's chiseled, but he still has room to grow in the weight class.

He has worked on his flexibility and technique, two of the keys for his training.

Standing 5-foot-8 and weighing 205 pounds (92.9 kilos), Wittmer could be spotted as the strongest guy in the zip code from the parking lot. Yet, he understands his weightlifting prowess won't give him the recognition that the 25th man on the St. Louis Cardinals roster gets.

"I know that's how it goes. They probably don't want to read about me. (In St. Louis, the Cardinals) are what everyone wants to read and talk about," he said.

But if Wittmer and the United States team has a good run at the World Championships in Thailand in October, he can finally fulfill his dreams of competing in the Olympics.

How the team performs at the Worlds dictates how many spots the U.S. may have in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With Wittmer at No. 5, that gives him a shot to make the cut.

"It's exciting," he said. "I've trained so hard to get to this point, but I'm still not there. I need to get the experience at the Pan Am Games."

The Pan Ams are seen as a mini-Olympics. It has an athletes' village, includes countries from North and South America and is traditionally held the year before the Summer Olympics.

It's a step in Wittmer's progression, but one he can't fulfill in a gym. It's the village. It's the camaraderie of having not just his team around but other athletes in that Olympic-type setting. It's about getting ready for the big show.

But before then, he'll crouch down and focus before he attacks the bar. He'll be in his own little zone, but not necessarily alone.

"I don't know. I don't think about much. I've been doing it so long," Wittmer said. "I'm a nice person, I'm not an angry person. I think that's why I like this."