American weightlifter Chad Vaughn is headed to the Olympics for the second time.
Still, there were times that he considered ending his career.
Here’s more from The Q&A with the Konawa native:
Jenni Carlson: When did you turn a corner and start to believe in your weightlifting future?
Chad Vaughn: I didn’t start (lifting) until I was 17 1/2, and usually, you start a lot younger. The junior level of weightlifting, 20 years is the cutoff, so I never did make any junior world teams. Nobody ever really at that point expected a lot out of me as far as being able to make world championship teams or Olympic teams. Actually on the 2000 junior world team, I made it up to the alternate position. It made me a little bit hungry, but I didn’t really believe I could reach the Olympics probable until 2003. I had recently won the Pan American Games. I finally admitted to myself that, “Hey, I can actually make the Olympic team.” A year later, there I was.
JC: So, you go from a junior team alternate in 2000 to Olympic team in 2004?
CV: Looking back, the past four years, I don’t want to say it’s a struggle, but any improvement has been a lot harder to come by. I look back on those first six years, and it was a lot easier and funner. You could almost go in and do any type of workout, and as long as you’re dedicated enough to stick with it enough, you don’t have any way to go but up and improve.
JC: Sounds like golfers who improve easy at first, then have trouble shaving off even a stroke after they get to a certain point.
CV: No doubt. You get to a point whether it’s a certain age or whether it’s a certain level, and any improvement is just harder to come by. In those first six years, I wouldn’t have really seen it that way, but looking back on it now, it definitely makes me appreciate it a lot more.
JC: Take me back to the 2004 Olympics. You finished 17th. How do you look back now on that?
CV: You learn something from every competition whether you do good or whether you do bad, but especially when you don’t do as well as you’d like, you always learn more. Being the Olympic Games, being the biggest meet anybody could have, it was the biggest learning experience also. Being through that already, it’s priceless. Nobody can take that experience away from me. I’m definitely better for it.
JC: The folks at USA Weightlifting really look at you as a leader of this team. What are your thoughts about heading to Beijing?
CV: As far as being a leader, I like that roll to be honest with you. I have the urge to help anybody who wants it. I’m definitely willing to do that, and I want to do that, but I’m not wanting to push it on anybody. I know that people tried to tell me things coming up, and I’ve always had an open mind and tried to listen, but it doesn’t really mean anything unless you experience it yourself. I think most people learn a lot more on their own when they go through things, so I’m there for them to do whatever I can, but I think most people are just going to have to take their experinces on their own.
JC: What about your hopes heading into the Olympics?
CV: I definitely have goals. My main goal is to break the American record in the clean and jerk again. Not only that, but just making as many lifts as I can. The competition against yourself is really what this is all about. To me, just showing up there and lifting more weight than I ever have, whether that be one kilogram more or 10 kilograms more, that to me would be worth everything really.