He's the First US Man to Win Weightlifting Medal in 40 Years

American weightlifter Hampton Morris has ended an Olympic medal drought that began 20 years before he was born. The 20-year-old won the bronze in the men's 61-kilogram event Wednesday. American women won weightlifting medals at the two most recent Summer Olympics, but the last American men to make it to the podium were Mario Martinez and Guy Carlton in 1984, USA Today reports. Martinez won silver and Carlton won bronze in Los Angeles, which will host the Olympics again in 2028.

According to his Team USA bio, Morris is coached by his father and trains mainly out of a gym at their home in Marietta, Georgia. On Wednesday, he was in fifth place after the snatch portion of the event, where he lifted 278 pounds. But he made up for it in the clean and jerk, where he is the world record holder in his 135-pound weight class; USA Today reports he lifted 379 pounds. China's Li Fabin won gold and Thailand's Theerapong Silachai won silver. Morris had been expected to do well and his medal win "builds momentum for the remaining four American weightlifters on Team USA," BarBend reports. (More 2024 Paris Olympics stories.)