Beaufort weightlifter Cummings has ‘tunnel vision’ for Olympics. Watch him compete
Beaufort’s C.J. Cummings will battle the best weightlifters in the world for a medal Wednesday morning, but you’ll need to rise early to watch.
In Japan, the competition begins at 7:50 p.m. Wednesday. But that’s 6:50 a.m. in Beaufort.
You can join others in cheering for the gifted local weightlifter in Beaufort.
A C.J. Cummings Olympic Watch Party is planned at The Foundry, 2127 Boundary St., in Beaufort Town Center, next to the Food Lion. The public is welcome, owner Abe Stem said.
A projector will be used to show the weightlifting competition to weightlifters who are working out and also those who stop by The Foundry. Coffee will be served.
“A lot of us are pretty excited,” Stem said.
The Foundry is the home of Team Beaufort Olympic Weightlifting, and it’s where Cummings lifts.
Cummings’ immediate family will be anxiously watching from the Lady’s Island home of his parents, Savasah and Clarence Cummings, Sr., said Crystal Cummings, C.J.’s sister.
“In case they have to scream a little loud,” Crystal Cummings said.
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Cummings’ older brother Omar will be cheering from Virginia.
Crystal talked to C.J. on Monday. He was excited.
“He’s in tunnel vision right now,” Crystal said of her brother.
Crystal is not normally nervous when Cummings competes, but this time “the nerves are kicking in,” she told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet Tuesday.
“This is a bigger platform,” she said of the Olympics. “I just want him to do well, like he does any other time.”
Cummings, 21, is the first Olympic weightlifter from South Carolina, and he has a shot at earning a medal in his first Olympics.
He’s in the 161-pound weightlifting group.
He’s not the only weightlifter with Beaufort ties competing in the COVID-19-delayed Olympics.
Mahassen Hala Fattouh Paiva, 31, a Florida native who now lives in Yemassee, will be making history as the first female Lebanese weightlifter to participate in the Olympics.
Paiva also works with Ray Jones, Cummings’ coach, who has been training weightlifters for more than two decades in Beaufort. Paiva does not compete until Sunday.
Beaufort native Naya Tapper also is one of the stars on the U.S. women’s rugby team. Action begins Wednesday evening.
Stem explained how the weightlifting competition will work Wednesday morning when Cummings will compete against weightlifters from Bulgaria, Republic of Muldova, China, Japan, Albania, Tunisia, Venezuela and Spain.
Cummings’ division begins at 6:50 a.m. but he is not the first lifter, so he might not compete until around 7:20 a.m.
There are two kinds of lifts.
First is the “snatch,” in which they grab the bar, pull it straight from the ground and over their head in a continuous motion. That’s followed by the “clean and jerk.” That’s when they pull the bar to their chest and then hoist it over their head.
Each athlete will lift three times in each category. The participants with the best combined score from the two categories will win medals.
A U.S. male weightlifter has not won an Olympic medal since 1984. Cummings is ranked No. 2 in his weight class.
“So there’s a good chance he’s going to medal,” Stem said. “We’re hoping for the best.”
Trainer Ray Jones is with Cummings in Tokyo.
HOW, WHEN TO WATCH C.J. CUMMINGS
Competition Time: July 28 7:50 p.m. (local time in Japan) / July 28 6:50 a.m. (Eastern)
Online NBCOlympics.com LIVE & On Demand
USA Network: July 28 4 p.m. Eastern (tape delay)
This story was originally published July 27, 2021 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Beaufort weightlifter Cummings has ‘tunnel vision’ for Olympics. Watch him compete."
