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Liftoff to Beijing: Broadneck High's Natalie Woolfolk
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Related Topics: Arnold, Md.
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Natalie Woolfolk, 24, a 2002 Broadneck High graduate and reigning, two-time USA Weightlifting Lifter of the Year, will try to win Olympic gold in Beijing next month.
Arnold, Md. (Map, News) - Natalie Woolfolk believes she had a good reason for only telling her closest friends at Broadneck High she was a weightlifter.
“I didn’t want the boys to think I was strong and buff,” Woolfolk said. “I was embarrassed at first.”
But that was 10 years ago. Now, Woolfolk, 24, will flex her muscles in front of a worldwide audience when she shoulders the U.S. team’s best chance to medal at the Beijing Games . The 5-foot-3, 135-pounder competes in the 63-kilogram class on Aug. 12.
She’s the reigning, two-time USA Weightlifting Lifter of the Year and has set 10 American records since joining the national team in 2005 — not bad for a girl who began her athletic career as a gymnast.
But Woolfolk’s ambitions changed after experiencing a growth spurt in middle school, which caused her to focus on soccer and track. At the urging of her father, Kirk, who is the director of strength and conditioning at the Naval Academy, she started lifting weights to stay in shape.
“I tried other sports and my dad convinced me to give it a shot,” Woolfolk said. “I loved it right away.”
Woolfolk took advantage of her dad’s job to train in Navy’s gigantic, state-of-the-art weight room. But just when she making progress, she had to find a new weight bench after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks curtailed civilian access to the Academy.
Her new training center? Her familiy’s garage, where she powered and shivered through 90-minute sessions layered in clothing to protect her from the winter weather.
She didn’t stay at her Arnold home much longer. In 2002 just before the second semester of her senior year —and at the tender age of 17 — she received an offer to live at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“I knew if I wanted to make the Olympics one day, this was an opportunity I couldn't pass on,” Woolfolk said. “Luckily, I was able to go back and graduate with my friends.”
Woolfolk has been in Colorado ever since, dedicating nearly all of her time and energy into making the Beijing games. She is not the strongest competitor, but compensates for her diminutive frame with her great technique, using the flexibility she acquired as a gymnast.
Woolfolk has a chance of medaling next month. Her personal best in the snatch in competition is 100 kilograms pounds and 118 kilograms in the clean-and-jerk, a total of 218. Ukraine’s Nataliya Skakun won the gold medal in 2004 with a total of 242.5 kilograms, followed by Belarus’ Hanna Batsiushka (242.5, who lost the tiebreaker because she weighed more than Skakun) and Tatsiana Stukalava (222.5).
“It’s been a fun ride so far,” Kirk Woolfolk said. “Going to the Olympics was not why I got her started in this, but it would be great to see her bring home a medal.”
Even if Woolfolk doesn't leave Beijing with a medal, she sport has given her something much more significant: a fiancé. Woolfolk will marry Casey Burgener, a member of the men’s weightlifting team who also will compete in Beijing, two months after the Olympics.
“It’s been great being with Casey because you know you are going to get the support you need, and he understands what I’m going through,” Woolfolk said. “At the same time, he knows when it’s time to talk about weightlifting and when it's time to talk about something else.”
rsnyder@baltimoreexaminer.com
ROAD TO BEIJING
With the start of the XXIX Olympiad less than a month away, The Examiner will feature Marylanders who will wear the red, white and blue during an Olympics that could thrust our state, and especially Charm City, onto the international spotlight.
Name: Natalie Woolfolk
Age: 24
Hometown: Arnold
Sport: Weightlifting (63 kg)
Event Schedule: Aug. 9-19 (63 Kg set for Aug. 12)
Chance of winning gold: Unlikely. Woolfolk could vie for medal if she posts personal bests, with the bronze likely being her best finish. A bronze appears her best chance at reaching the podium as Belarusian lifter Tatsiana Stukalava placed third at the 2004 Games with a total lift of 222.5 kilograms. Woolfolk’s personal best in the snatch is 100 kilograms and 118 in the clean and jerk.
