Topic: News: Kendrick Farris Eyes Pan Am Gold

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Kendrick Farris Eyes Pan Am Gold
By Brian Vernellis

The weight room is silent. All eyes are fixed on Kendrick Farris, who's gathering all of his concentration and energy into the hundreds of pounds linked on a metal bar at his feet.

The bar bends under the tremendous strain at both ends. Support comes from around the room. Farris gets the bar to his chest but can't lift it over his head. The weights thunder back down to the mat.

It's a rare moment of defeat for one of the world's best.

"He's a really good competitive lifter," said his coach, Kyle Pierce. "He won't make lifts in practice that he does in competition. For a lot of people, it's just the opposite."

Click to enlarge
[attachthumb=1]
Kendrick Farris prepares to lift more than 400 pounds during a workout session at LSUS.
Farris, a record holder in the clean and jerk, will be competing in the Pan American games in South America.
Farris is expected to face tough competition from Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela.

Farris, 21, will represent the United States at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event brings together the best athletes from North, Central and South America in Olympic-style competition.

Farris is one of nine athletes (five men, four women) on the U.S. weightlifting team. The weightlifting competition begins Saturday.

He'll also participate in the World Championships in Hungary at the end of August.

Cody Gibbs, another athlete training at the USA Weightlifting Development Center at LSUS, will join Farris as members of the USA Weightlifting World Championship Team.

The World Championships is their last chance at qualifying for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

"He and Cody have legitimate chances at Olympic teams," Pierce said.

Farris holds the American record in the clean and jerk with an incredible performance at the USA Weightlifting national championship in Chicago two months ago.

He won his weight class (85 kg/197 pounds) by lifting 440.7 pounds in the clean and jerk — the second time he set the American record. The first American record came at the American Open in Birmingham, Ala., when he lifted 436.5 pounds in December.

An Internet search reveals video of his record-breaking performance in Birmingham.

"The little things don't bother him," Pierce said. "He forgot his shoes for the event, so he had to borrow someone else's shoes when he set the record."

His confidence and composure will be tested at the Pan American Games. He'll go up against some of the world's best in Rio.

He's currently ranked No. 4 in his weight class behind competitors from Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela. It will be a difficult road to a medal.

But Farris has plenty of international competition and isn't fazed by it. He's had the Pan American Games on his mind for quite some time. For a paper in his English class, he wrote about the event's history.

He rattles off a list of dates and milestones about the games between training sets.

The trip to Brazil marks his ninth abroad. He's been to China, Korea, the Dominican Republic and Belarus.

"He's competed against these guys before," Pierce said. "It's so important that international experience. Things are different."

The same focus from the Birmingham video surfaces when he talks about his chances in Rio.

"Last year, when I first made the World team in the Dominican Republic, I was looking at these guys, and I don't feel like they're better than me," Farris said.

"If I put in the work, I know I can get them."

And if not in Rio, there's the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

"I've been talking about 2008 forever," Farris said. "I won't be satisfied unless I get the gold."

2007 Pan American Games
WHEN: Saturday-July 27
WHERE: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
NOTE: Weightlifting competition begins Saturday