In the 73-kilogram weight class, 21-year-old weightlifter Clarence “CJ” Cummings Jr. will compete for Team USA at the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Foundry is Cummings’ home gym; he grew up in nearby Beaufort, South Carolina. Cummings got his start in the weight room when he was a preteen, inspired by his older sister Crystal’s gym routine.
C. Cummings JR Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Cummings began winning medals in official weightlifting contests at the tender age of 12. A silver medalist in the 56-kilogram division at the 2012 American Open Weightlifting Championships was his reward.
In the nine years since then, he has won the Junior Weightlifting World Championships four times and set almost two dozen American records spanning four weight categories at the Youth, Junior, and Senior levels (2016-2019).
Cummings holds the third-best overall standing in the 73-kilogram class, as reported by the IWF (International Weightlifting Federation).
Profession in Weightlifting
Starting as a Youth athlete, Cummings has consistently placed among the best American weightlifters. Four consecutive IWF Junior World Championships are only one of his many sporting achievements (2016-2018 at 69-kilograms and 2019 at 73 kilograms).
At the young age of 21, he already possesses 23 American records, including 17 Youth American records and all six records in the 73-kilogram class for both Junior and Senior divisions:
College-Level American Music
- Weight: 155 pounds (341.7 pounds)
- For the Clean and Jerk, 193 pounds (425.5 pounds)
- Three hundred and forty-seven kg in sum (765 pounds)
During the 2020 Pan American Games, Cummings set the American record for the snatch.
American Junior Music Charts
- Weight of the Snatch: 154 lbs (339.5 pounds)
- For the Clean and Jerk, 193 pounds (425.5 pounds)
- Add it all up, and you get 345 kg (760.6 pounds)
Cummings now holds all three Junior American records, all of which she established in the 2019 Junior Pan American Championships.
Cummings’ preparation for the Tokyo Olympics has showed that he is capable of breaking his existing American records in the weight room.
On October 3, 2020, he performed a clean and jerk with 195 kilos (429.9 pounds) and maintained the overhead position for four seconds. Cummings won silver at the 2019 IWF Grand Prix before the COVID-19 epidemic.
Tokyo’s Rivalry
The following competitors will be competing in the 73-kilogram weight class at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo:
- Roster at 73 Pounds
- Calja Briken, Albania
- Australian native Brandon Dean Wakeling
- The Bulgarian leader, Bozhidar Dimitrov Andreev
- China’s Shi Zhiyong
- Spanish scholar David Sánchez López
- Speaker of the Indonesian Parliament Rahmat Erwin Abdullah
- The Japanese musician Masanori Miyamoto
- President of Saudi Arabia, Mahmoud Mohammed Alhumayd
- Mohammad Abderrahim Moum – Morocco
- This is Marin Robu in Moldova, often known as
- The Mexican government is led by Jorge Adan Cardenas Estrada.
- Tunisia’s Karem Ben Hnia
- U.S.A.: Clarence Cummings Jr.
- To the people of Venezuela, I present Julio Reben Mayora Pernia.
China’s Shi Zhiyong, who won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 69-kilogram division, is the overwhelming favourite coming into Tokyo (the IWF approved new weightlifting categories in 2018).
Currently, he has all three world records in the 73-kilogram class, in addition to three IWF World Championships titles (2015, 2018-19), and four Asian Championships titles (2012, 2016, 2019, 2020).
The 73-Kilogram Class of World Records
- Taker: 169 kg (372.9 pounds)
- 198 lb. Clean & Jerk (436.5 pounds)
- Altogether, it weighs 363 kg (800.3 pounds)
In 2020, in the Chinese National Championships, Zhiyong lifted 199 kilogrammes, proving he has the strength to break the clean & jerk world record. Only Briken Calja (ranked fifth) and David Sanchez Lopez (ranked tenth) from the 69-kilogram class at the Rio Olympics are competing in Tokyo.
Cummings may not have a chance to beat Zhiyong, but he does have a good shot of placing third at the Tokyo Olympics, according to the current IWF rankings.
IWF World Rankings: 73 kg
- According to the IWF, Shi Zhiyong is the best male wrestler.
- CJ Cummings, #3 in the IWF
- Ranking #4 in the IWF is Julio Reben Mayora Pernia (tied with Daniyar Ismayilov, who is not competing in Tokyo)
- IWF No. 6 Marin Robu
- Calja, Briken — IWF #7
- Masanori Miyamoto, World No. 9 in the IWF (Tied)
- Amongst all IWF players, Rahmat Erwin Abdullah is ranked ninth (Tied)
- Currently ranked #13 in the IWF, David Sanchez Lopez
The 11th and 12th weightlifting sessions at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will include Groups B and A of the Men’s 73-kilogram weight class. Both are planned for the morning of Wednesday, July 28, 2021; Group B’s is at 12:50 a.m. EST, while Group A’s is at 6:50 a.m.
Cummings has shown he is capable of much heavier lifts during training for the Tokyo Olympics than he has achieved thus far in competition.
A look at the lineup for the 73-kilogram class heading to Tokyo suggests that Cummings has a good shot at bringing home a medal for the United States. If he wants to challenge Shi Zhiyong for first place in the weightlifting competition, he will almost probably need to achieve his personal best.
