At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, 25-year-old Martha Ann “Mattie” Rogers will make her Olympic debut representing the USA in the 87-kilogram class. Rogers is originally from Apopka, FL, but trains at Catalyst Athletics, located in Oregon. She originally got into competitive weightlifting at age 18 after training CrossFit® methodology.
Rogers’s weightlifting resume is decorated with a plethora of national and international podium finishes, including two Senior Pan American records and six Senior American records. She is currently the highest-ranked International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) weightlifter at 81-kilograms.*
*Note: 81-kilograms is not a recognized Olympic weight category.
Image courtesy of USA Weightlifting
[Related: The Full 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games Weightlifting Roster]
Weightlifting Career
Rogers recently scored an American and Pan American snatch record of 111 kilograms (244.7 pounds) in the 81-kilogram class at the rescheduled 2020 Pan American Championships. Additionally, her total of 251 kilograms at that event is the current Pan American record. At the 2021 USA Weightlifting (USAW) National Championships, Rogers set three new American records, including a snatch one kilogram heavier than her Pan American record:
Roger’s 81-Kilogram American Records
Before the IWF approved new weightlifting categories in 2018, Rogers’s held all three American records in the 69-kilogram class. Her training for the 2021 Tokyo Games has involved consistently hitting lifts within a couple of kilos of both her snatch and clean & jerk records.
2016 Olympic Trials
Rogers missed competing at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games by the narrowest of margins. It was the difference of a single lift at Team USA’s Women’s Olympic Trials in the 69-kilogram class. Rogers called for 141 kilograms (310.9 pounds) on the barbell for her final clean & jerk attempt — eight kilograms more than her personal best at the time. In her own words in a Facebook post following that event:
I simply did not have it in me that day. I sat in the stands and watched in Rio because of that one missed lift. No excuses. And if it doesn’t work out the first time… Work. Harder.
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Suffice to say, she did work harder, and it paid off. She will be the first weightlifter from the USA to compete in the 87-kilogram class at an Olympic Games.
[/quote]
[Related: Meet Team USA Olympic Weightlifter Jourdan Delacruz (49KG)]
Competition In Tokyo
Here are all the athletes competing in the 87-kilogram class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games:
87-Kilogram Roster
IWF Rankings — 87-Kilogram Class
87-Kilogram World Record Standards
Image courtesy of USA Weightlifting
[Related: Ugandan Weightlifter Julius Ssekitoleko Reported Missing In Japan]
Onto the Olympic Games
Rogers’ recent American and Pan American record-setting performances give her plenty of momentum heading into the Games. Her move up in weight to the 87-kilogram class appears, at least on paper, to give her one of the best shots of any Team USA member to land on the podium.
The Women’s 87-kilogram category groups B and A will compete in Tokyo on Aug. 1, 2021, at 10:50 p.m. EST and Aug. 2, 2021, at 2:50 a.m EST, respectively.
Note: BarBend is the Official Media Partner of USA Weightlifting. Unless otherwise specified on certain content, the two organizations maintain editorial independence. They collaborated on this article series.
Feature image courtesy of USA Weightlifting
Click here to view the article.
Rogers’s weightlifting resume is decorated with a plethora of national and international podium finishes, including two Senior Pan American records and six Senior American records. She is currently the highest-ranked International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) weightlifter at 81-kilograms.*
*Note: 81-kilograms is not a recognized Olympic weight category.
[Related: The Full 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games Weightlifting Roster]
Weightlifting Career
Rogers recently scored an American and Pan American snatch record of 111 kilograms (244.7 pounds) in the 81-kilogram class at the rescheduled 2020 Pan American Championships. Additionally, her total of 251 kilograms at that event is the current Pan American record. At the 2021 USA Weightlifting (USAW) National Championships, Rogers set three new American records, including a snatch one kilogram heavier than her Pan American record:
Roger’s 81-Kilogram American Records
- Snatch — 112 kilograms (247 pounds)
- Clean & Jerk — 143 kilograms (315.3 pounds)
- Total — 255 kilograms (562.2 pounds)
Before the IWF approved new weightlifting categories in 2018, Rogers’s held all three American records in the 69-kilogram class. Her training for the 2021 Tokyo Games has involved consistently hitting lifts within a couple of kilos of both her snatch and clean & jerk records.
2016 Olympic Trials
Rogers missed competing at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games by the narrowest of margins. It was the difference of a single lift at Team USA’s Women’s Olympic Trials in the 69-kilogram class. Rogers called for 141 kilograms (310.9 pounds) on the barbell for her final clean & jerk attempt — eight kilograms more than her personal best at the time. In her own words in a Facebook post following that event:
I simply did not have it in me that day. I sat in the stands and watched in Rio because of that one missed lift. No excuses. And if it doesn’t work out the first time… Work. Harder.
[/quote]
Suffice to say, she did work harder, and it paid off. She will be the first weightlifter from the USA to compete in the 87-kilogram class at an Olympic Games.
[/quote]
[Related: Meet Team USA Olympic Weightlifter Jourdan Delacruz (49KG)]
Competition In Tokyo
Here are all the athletes competing in the 87-kilogram class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games:
87-Kilogram Roster
- Jaqueline Antonia Ferrerira — Brazil
- Maria Fernanda Valdes Paris — Chile
- Wang Zhouyu — China
- Clementine Meukeugni Noumbissi — Cameroon
- Crismery Dominga Santana Peguero — Dominican Republic
- Tamara Yajaira Salazar Arce — Ecuador
- Lydia Valentin Perez — Spain
- Gaelle Verlaine Nayo Ketchanke — France
- Yeounhee Kang — South Korea
- Elena Cilcic — Moldova
- Ankhtsetseg Munkhjantsan — Mongolia
- Kanah Shenelle Andrews-Nahu — New Zealand
- Martha Ann “Mattie” Rogers — USA
- Naryury Alexandra Perez Reveron — Venezuela
IWF Rankings — 87-Kilogram Class
- Wang Zhouyu— IWF Ranked #1
- Yeounhee Kang — IWF Ranked #2
- Tamara Yajaira Salazar Arce — IWF Ranked #3
- Crismery Dominga Santana Peguero — IWF Ranked #4
- Ankhtsetseg Munkhjantsan — IWF Ranked #5 (tied with Dayana Aracelis Chirinos Leon, who is not competing in Tokyo)
- Elena Cilcic — IWF Ranked #8
- Naryury Alexandra Perez Reveron — IWF Ranked #11 (tied with Anastasiia Hotfrid and Yeinny Norela Geles Moreno, both of whom are not competing in Tokyo)
- Maria Fernanda Valdes Paris — IWF Ranked #17
- Jaqueline Antonia Ferrerira — IWF Ranked #18
- Clementine Meukeugni Noumbissi — IWF Ranked #21
87-Kilogram World Record Standards
- Snatch — 132 kilograms (291 pounds)
- Clean & Jerk — 164 kilograms (361.6 pounds)
- Total — 294 kilograms (648.2 pounds)
[Related: Ugandan Weightlifter Julius Ssekitoleko Reported Missing In Japan]
Onto the Olympic Games
Rogers’ recent American and Pan American record-setting performances give her plenty of momentum heading into the Games. Her move up in weight to the 87-kilogram class appears, at least on paper, to give her one of the best shots of any Team USA member to land on the podium.
The Women’s 87-kilogram category groups B and A will compete in Tokyo on Aug. 1, 2021, at 10:50 p.m. EST and Aug. 2, 2021, at 2:50 a.m EST, respectively.
Note: BarBend is the Official Media Partner of USA Weightlifting. Unless otherwise specified on certain content, the two organizations maintain editorial independence. They collaborated on this article series.
Feature image courtesy of USA Weightlifting
Click here to view the article.
