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Powerlifters Hope to Lift Their Dreams for Beijing with Strong Performance at the 2007 Parapan American Games
By Cecil Bleiker
// USOC Media Services
// August 12, 2007
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Rohan Murphy will be the first U.S. lifter at the Parapan American Games, competing at 56 kg.
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Two-time Paralympian Mary Stack (Ann Arbor, Mich.) leads the four-athlete U.S. Parapan American Powerlifting Team, which is the same group that represented the U.S. at the 2006 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Powerlifting World Championships in Busan, Korea.
The first half of the 2007 United States Parapan American Games Powerlifting Team will take the platform tomorrow at the 2007 Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rohan Murphy (University Park, Pa.) will get things started for Team USA at 10:00 Rio time in Pavilion 3A at the Rio Centro Convention Center as he competes in the men’s 56kg weight class. Andy Wise (Needham, Mass.) will compete in the men’s 67.5kg weight class in the afternoon session which begins at 16:00.
Wise had the best finish of the four U.S. lifters in Busan, finishing sixth in the men's 67.5 kg division with a lift of 167.5 kg. Murphy finished ninth overall in the men’s 56 kg class, but his lift was also good enough for third place in the men’s junior division.
The fourth member of the team is Kortney Clemons (University Park, Pa.), a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympic Military Program. Clemons came to the first Paralympic Military Sports Camp in 2005 and later became involved with powerlifting and track and field. He finished 13th in the men’s 75 kg class in Busan.
Stack will compete on Tuesday, August 14 in the women’s over 82.5kg weight class which is scheduled to begin at 10:00 and Clemons will round out the team with the men’s 75kg weight class on Wednesday, Aug. 15.
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