Skip to main content

“It’s Not About Redemption”: Meet 2024 Olympian Jourdan Delacruz 

The 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, are on the horizon. Five of the United States’ best weightlifters will venture overseas for this summer’s Games, which run from Jul. 26 to Aug. 11

Team USA’s Olympic contingent contains five spectacular athletes, including 49-kilogram Jourdan Delacruz. The Texas-born Olympic weightlifter has had her sights set on Paris 2024 since her barbell hit the floor three years prior in Tokyo, where an uncharacteristic bomb-out left her off the leaderboard. 

Jourdan Delacruz 2024 Olympics
Delacruz rests during a pre-Olympics workout session at her gym.

[Related: The Best Weightlifting Shoes on the Market]

BarBend briefly caught up with Delacruz, 26, to pick her brain just a few weeks away from what could be called the biggest athletic event of her life — and whether she’s prepared to rewrite her own Olympic history. 

Editor’s Note: BarBend is the Official Media Partner of USA Weightlifting.

BarBend: You made it to your first Olympics in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. How did it affect your Olympic experience, and what experiences are you looking forward to this time that you couldn’t have in Tokyo?

  • Jourdan Delacruz: “I’m so excited to finally get the full Olympic experience, like attending the opening & closing ceremonies, watching other sports, and so on. In Tokyo, I competed on the second day and left shortly after, meaning I didn’t get to support any of my teammates in-person.” 
Jourdan Delacruz Mike Gattone
Delacruz chats with USAW Director of Sports Performance Mike Gattone during a training session.

BB: In Tokyo, you made 86 kilograms in the snatch but bombed out during clean & jerks at 108 kilograms. How, if at all, did that influence the approach you took to your training throughout this quad?

  • JD: “It definitely motivated me to get back into training right after a hard quad. Bombing out was hard for me to process, but I’m actually glad that it happened because I ended up growing so much as a person and as an athlete. Going to Paris isn’t about redemption; it’s just the next part of my journey.”

BB: What will a great day look like for you at the 2024 Olympics?

  • JD: “Coming off the platform and having my friends and family there to meet me. It already makes me emotional; I can’t wait to see all of them there.” 

How Jourdan Delacruz Made It to the 2024 Olympics

Delacruz competed five times throughout the roughly 18-month Paris qualification period, each meet building her case as one of the best lightweight women’s weightlifters in the world. Here’s how she did at each event: 

Editor’s Note: The formatting below reads as “Total (Snatch / Clean & Jerk)” in kilograms.

[Related: The Best Lifting Straps for Weightlifting]

It’s the kind of competitive resume most pro athletes dream of, but Delacruz hardly rested on her laurels. While campaigning for the 2024 Olympics, Delacruz also:

  1. Won her first Senior World medal (bronze)
  2. Matched her career-best Total of 200 kilograms
  3. Won her third Pan American gold medal.

She’s heading to Paris ranked number four in the world. Based on her momentum over the last year and a half, we’d bet the farm on Delacruz making it to the Olympic podium.

The Women’s 49-kilogram event at the 2024 Olympics takes place on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

More Weightlifting News

Featured Image: USA Weightlifting

The post “It’s Not About Redemption”: Meet 2024 Olympian Jourdan Delacruz  appeared first on BarBend.



from BarBend https://ift.tt/RS3p2Hb
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

19 Halloween Costumes for Strength Athletes

Halloween is rapidly approaching, and you’re not sure what to wear. Sure, you can always call it a wash this season and promise yourself to order early next time. (Isn’t that what you said last year?) But as a strength athlete, you take pride in your lifts, and you’re eager to show that off with your costume — even if you’re late to the party and have to make like the Avengers and assemble it yourself. Here, we’ll break down what you need to toss together each strength-inspired costume, and even list out some character-inspired exercises so you can stay on brand in the gym. You’ll be surprised (or maybe not) by how many Halloween costumes for strength athletes you can swing with a few black T-shirts, pants, and leather jackets. Halloween Costumes for Strength Athletes Luisa Madrigal She-Ra Larry the Lobster Wreck-It Ralph Sailor Jupiter The Incredibles Powerpuff Girls Daisy Johnson Captain Marvel Batman Sarah Connor The Terminator Xena Tiny Tiger Lara Croft Rocky Bal...

Best Pre-Workout Supplements of 2023 For Weight Loss Muscle Gain and More

One of the most popular supplements on the market, people often turn to pre-workouts for help increasing energy, blood flow, endurance, power, and sometimes hydration. As such, you can find different combinations of beneficial ingredients (like caffeine, citrulline, and beta-alanine) in the form of powders, pre-made drinks, small liquid shots, and even chews and gum. But with the glut of information on pre-workouts from ill-advised TikTok trends (i.e., dry scooping ) to fit-fluencers peddling that good-good on all platforms, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds when choosing a pre-workout supplement. Which pre-workouts work, and which ones are just noise? We’ve spent years testing out the best (and the worst) pre-workouts, and we’ve got opinions. Here are the best pre-workout supplements for just about any fitness goal. The Best Pre-Workout Supplements of 2023 Best Pre-Workout Overall: Transparent Labs BULK Best Pre-Workout for Muscle Gain: Transparent Labs BULK Strongest Pre-Wor...

The Best Greens Powders For Digestion, Fiber, Value, and More

Chugging a glass of green vegetable powder isn’t always pleasant, but it may be one of the most effective ways to enhance your vitamin and nutrient intake . Greens powders are often made of dried leafy greens and other vegetables , grasses, fruits, herbs, seaweed, and sometimes even probiotics and digestive enzymes . But before you trade in your multivitamin for greens powders, you should ask yourself a couple of questions. Namely, are greens powders worth the money? And if they are, then which greens powder is the best for me? After testing dozens of the best-selling greens supplement brands (as well as the underdogs that maybe don’t sell as well as they should), we’ve determined which of them are worth your money and which are about as effective as drinking soil. In addition to a list of the best greens powders, we explain their benefits and how they might affect your daily nutrition .  Best Greens Powders Best Greens Powder Overall: Athletic Greens AG1 Best Tasting Greens...