Athletes from across the country are converging on Philadelphia this weekend for the Junior National Weightlifting event. Among the athletes is 13-year-old Emma Nye.
The eighth-grader is relatively new to the sport, yet she currently holds four American records. She is also a two-time national champion. Just competing in the sport has the attention of her school, New Mark Middle.
“People ask me, how much you bench, because they know it annoys me. It’s not like that,” she said during one of her training sessions.
Her dad explained Emma’s weightlifting career actually started on accident.
"We started gymnastics when she was 3 until 11, when she broke her foot twice. That's when we made her retire, we could see worse injuries coming.”
She began with Crossfit and quickly caught the eye of Dennis Snethen. He has coached athletes to four Olympic Games, including the first American gold medal female weightlifter Tara Nott, a Blue Valley graduate.
Snethen explained, “Emma has all the right characteristics of someone who can make it to the games. Gymnastics helps prepare you immensely for the lifts.”
Emma only weighs 95 pounds. Her heaviest single lift was 132 pounds in the Clean and Jerk.
The Olympic training facility in Colorado has already invited Emma to official workouts, the same facility that's born Olympic superstars.
“I met shooters, gymnasts and of course weightlifters,” she remembered.
This 13-year-old is raising the bar not just for herself but also for other young people reaching for their goals.
"I would just go for it, you never know what can happen," Emma said.
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Mike Marusarz can be reached at mike.marusarz@kshb.com.
