Melanie Roach qualified Saturday as the top US female on a team of 4 women going to Beijing to compete in the Summer Olympics. Rounding out the rest of the US womens’ team are Carissa Gump, Natalie Woolfolk and third time Olympian, Cheryl Haworth.

The US Olympic Weightlifting Trials were held Saturday in Atlanta.

On the men’s side, there are three qualifiers including Mike Burgener’s son Casey, who at the trials on Saturday snatched 180 kilos (396#) and clean and jerked 224 kilos (492.8#) for a 404 kilo (880.8#) total. The top rated US lifter is Kendrick Farris, followed by Chad Vaughn.

More on Casey, from the AP story.

Farris and Vaughn dominated the men’s competition, with the main battle for the final spot. Burgener took it with a clean and jerk of 493 pounds on his next-to-last attempt. He fell over backward on the stage in jubilation.

“It was just a surge of energy,” Burgener said. “I can’t put it into words. It was like every surge of emotion you can feel all coming down at once.”

Congratulations, Casey, Melanie and the rest of the US team.

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