Hampton ‘Champton’ Morris already had the word champion in his nickname name. Now the weightlifter has the Olympic hardware to prove that he lives up to it. At just 20, Morris became the first US weightlifter to lift a 40-year-old medal drought for his country at the Olympics. However, what’s even more impressive than his historic achievement is his journey.

Hampton, who only started taking weightlifting seriously when he was 12, started under his father Tripp Morris’s guidance. So Mr. Morris turned the three-car garage of their Marietta, Georgia home into a 600 sq ft gym. The family’s friend chipped in to help build the lifting platforms, weight racks, and equipment. Eight years later, the father-son duo are Olympic medalists.

“It’s amazing that I’m able to leave that kind of mark in the sport… I’m just in disbelief,” Hamp the Champ told the Associated Press after his victory. However, things got off to a rough start as the prodigy fumbled his first clean-and-jerk attempt, slipping during the lift. Thankfully, the 3x consecutive Pan American champion pulled it together, lifting 172 kg (379 lbs) in his second attempt.

Although Morris failed the third attempt at 178 kg (392 lbs), he had locked in the bronze medal after his second attempt. “I knew I had it in me,” the Georgia native later said. It’s this self-belief that brought the father-son duo their success. Tripp Morris had realized his son’s knack for weightlifting when the 9-year-old boy first tried to mimic his father in the gym.

“He did that for about three years, so we started kind of loading the bar a little bit,” the coach told Team USA in May 2024. Now, the boy who play-acted with his father has a bright future, competing against one of the best weightlifters of this generation.

Hampton Morris vs. Li Fabin: A new rivalry?

While Morris scripted US history, Li Fabin of China retained his Olympic gold medal. The defending champion etched his name in history, becoming only the second weightlifter since Turkish icon Naim Suleymanoglu to win back-to-back Olympic golds in weightlifting. However, this isn’t the first time Morris has challenged Fabin on the international stage.

While the 31-year-old set a Games snatch record of 143 kg (315 lbs), Hampton Morris had stunned the world, including Fabin, by setting a new clean-and-jerk world record in April 2024. The then 19-year-old clean-and-jerked 176 kg (388 lbs). While Team USA’s phenom couldn’t quite replicate his world championship performance, he is at the nascent stage of his weightlifting career.

Could we see this budding rivalry evolve into a close contest in the following years? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, Hampton Morris deserves to bask in his historic achievement.