Paris 2024 Olympics: USA weightlifter Hampton Morris elevates home gym lessons to world record holding status

“Hamp the Champ.” “Champton.”

American weightlifter Hampton Morris’ nicknames make his goals clear—the 20-year-old from Marietta, Georgia, is heading to Paris with only one thing on his mind: winning.

Morris comes into the Olympic Games Paris 2024 ranked second in weightlifting in the 61kg weight class behind Li Fabin, the defending Olympic gold medalist representing the People’s Republic of China.

Morris made history and sealed his Olympic berth on 2 April, at the 2024 IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand when he famously set a world record of 176 kilograms (388 pounds) clean and jerk in the 61kg weight class, breaking the record previously held by Li.

His total for the day was 303, combining his snatch of 127kg and his record 176kg clean and jerk. It won him gold in the clean and jerk category, but it wasn’t enough to win the overall event. That honour went to Li, his primary challenger in the 61kg category.

At that same event, Li strengthened his hold on first place, setting a new snatch world record of 146kg (321.8 pounds).

Morris is set to face off against Li again among the field of 10 men competing in the 61kg weight class in Paris.

While Morris has Li beat in the clean and jerk, he will need to improve his snatch if he is to overtake the defending gold medalist.

Morris comes into these Games as the USA’s best hope for a gold medal in men’s weightlifting — find out more about this young lifter from Georgia.

Hampton Morris’ rapid weightlifting trajectory to the top

Morris discovered his passion for weightlifting at a fairly young age. His dad Tripp, who lifted weights for fitness, shared the story with Team USA, saying, “I’d say he kind of play-acted with me when he was around nine or 10 years old — he would (mimic) the squat and deadlift and press.

“And he did that for about three years, so we started loading the bar a little bit, and he would do a bit of weight, nothing serious. When he was around 12, he wanted to learn how actually to do weightlifting.”

Morris’ athletic potential began to shine.

Instead of searching for a training facility and coach in his hometown of Murietta, his dad took on the coaching role and built a home gym for Morris at which to train. The formula worked.

After training exclusively at home with his dad, Morris made his international weightlifting debut at age 14 at the 2018 Pan American Youth Championships. Competing in the 50kg class, the youngster earned two bronze medals and set a new Junior American record.

At age 15, he bumped up to the 61kg class at the 2019 Pan American Youth Championships to sweep gold and set new Junior American records.

At age 19, just shy of his 20th birthday, he set eight American records at the 2024 European championships in Bulgaria.

Throughout his short career, Morris has earned 20 gold medals for Team USA and set 10 junior and senior world records.

Now 20, Morris is headed to Paris 2024, ranked second in the world for his weight class.

What else is there to know about Hampton Morris?

One of Morris’ main interests outside of weightlifting is coffee. He tells olympics.com that his mother, Anne Marie, introduced him to coffee as a kid, tea-party-style. “I would want to drink coffee with my mom, so she would just give me a coffee mug full of water, and then I’d take a sip, and I'd say, ‘Ooh, that's a nice cup of Joe.’ ”

This later progressed to Morris imbibing in coffee and exploring local coffee shops during his travels for competition.

He shares one such experience with olympics.com: **“**I went to Thailand recently and they had a lot more luxury coffee shops than I expected. More than half of the buildings that we saw were coffee shops. There was a line of like five in a row.

“It was cool. I tried coffee beans from multiple different farms in Thailand.”

According to teamusa.com, Morris now owns five different coffee makers, ranging from a French press to a Vietnamese Phin coffee brewer.

On big training days, Morris says he’ll have three or four espresso shots: “It’s like a pre-workout.”

Needless to say, Morris looks forward to exploring the famous cafes of Paris while at the Olympic Games.