Once upon a time, the United States was a weightlifting force to be reckoned with. At three straight Olympics from 1948 to 1956, American lifters outperformed all other nations on the platform.

Then came three decades of Soviet dominance through the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, and since the turn of the millennium, China has ruled the bar. The U.S., meanwhile, virtually disappeared from the Olympic podium.

That is, until Paris.

This week, for the first time in history, the United States won medals in both men’s and women’s weightlifting at the Olympics, thanks to a pair of rising stars in their early 20s. 

First, 20-year-old Hampton Morris of Marietta, Georgia claimed bronze in the men’s 61kg (134 lbs.) event Wednesday, becoming the first American man to reach the weightlifting Olympic podium in 40 years. Then, on Friday, Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Olivia Reeves, 21, became just the second American woman ever to win a gold medal in the sport when she topped the women’s 71kg (156 lbs.) final. She joined Tara Nott, the last to do so at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Both performances have put the United States firmly back on the weightlifting map.

“It's the coolest,” Reeves told NBC Olympics of the U.S. lifting youth movement, which also included 26-year-old Jourdan Delacruz finishing fifth in the women’s 49kg event. 

“I think we've definitely helped set the tone of what we can accomplish. Instead of going to these meets just trying to (qualify for) the Olympics, trying to meet the quota of athletes, we're going to the Olympics, competing for the podium and intimidating countries like China,” Reeves said. (China did not select 71kg world record holder Liao Guifang as one of its three female weightlifting Olympians, possibly in part because Reeves outperformed Liao at the 2024 IWF World Cup in April.)

The success Reeves and Morris have enjoyed at their debut Olympics has both already daydreaming of what a similar experience might look like in four years, on U.S. soil, should they get the chance.

“I think LA's going to be a really great year for the U.S. I’m so excited about that,” Morris said. “To represent the host country at that level would be just one of the defining moments of my life.”