Hampton Morris has just broken a 40-year-old Olympic curse by drinking coffee! Based out of Georgia, Morris clinched an Olympic bronze medal at just 20 years of age. This made him become the first American male athlete to win an Olympic medal in weightlifting in 40 years. The last time America’s male weightlifter won in the Olympics was during the 1984 games, 20 years before Morris was even born! 

Performing both the snatch and the clean and jerk with relative ease, Morris lifted a combined weight of 657 pounds to secure a podium finish. Surprisingly, apart from his hard work in the gym, there is one secret ingredient that fuels the weightlifter to achieve his glittering accolades- coffee. Yes, Hampton Morris is a fan of coffee and uses it as part of his daily routine to keep him pushing for more. 

Hampton Morris and his fascination with caffeine

Hampton Morris started weightlifting seriously when he was just a 14-year-old kid. Over the years, as Morris began to bloom in his career, he had to travel a lot to different countries for his competitions. A large part of his travel involved visiting countries like Ecuador, Columbia, Argentina, and Cuba. Interestingly, all these countries had one thing in common- coffee is a staple in the everyday lives of the people. 

And that was when Morris began to take a liking to the different types of coffee beans. In between his events, Morris started to visit local breweries in these countries and learned about the diverse preparation of coffee. He further detailed that his interest in coffee was piqued initially in Abu Dhabi, during the 2021 Youth World Championships. An amazed Morris watched the butlers grind the coffee beans with their hands using nothing but a pestle and a mortar. And from that moment onwards, coffee became an irreplaceable part of the weightlifter’s life.

Speaking about how caffeine helps him in his daily workout sessions, Morris said, “I do try to stop drinking caffeine by 2 p.m. on competition days, but on heavy workout days, I’ll have three or four shots of espresso. It’s like a pre-workout.”

As a matter of fact, he proudly owns five different coffee makers coming from different countries. According to information provided by Morris himself, the US weightlifter has in his collection a Nespresso machine and a French press. However, the highlight of his collection comes from Vietnam, which is known as a ‘Phin’. And fueled by his favorite beverage, Hampton Morris has gained quite a lot of accolades in his career so far. 

A look at Hampton Morris’ career achievements

Hampton’s father, Tripp Morris, was a soccer player in college. While Hampton accompanied his father to the recreational soccer leagues, his primary interest remained fixated inside the gym. According to his father, little Hampton used to mimic his father’s workouts. And by the time he was 12 years old, Hampton started to learn weightlifting on a serious note. He had unimaginable success going into his first major tournament in 2017. 

Competing at the Youth Nationals, his sublime technique garnered the attention of the 3x Olympic gold medalist, Pyrros Dimas. Born in Greece, Dimas currently serves as the Technical Director of USA Weightlifting. Hampton also won the gold medal that helped his cause further in propelling his career further. Specializing in the 61 kg weight class, Hampton won gold medals in the 2021 Youth World Championships and the 2022 Junior World Championships. 

Transitioning to the senior level, Hampton had unprecedented success as he clinched 3 Pan American gold and 1 IWF World Cup silver medal in a span of 3 years. And to top it all, Hampton just put the icing on the cake by winning the Olympic bronze in Paris. Thus, fueled by coffee, Hampton Morris will now set his eyes on ascending to the pinnacle of weightlifting greatness.