WORTH HER WEIGHT IN GOLD.Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer Tara Cunningham is a former gymnast and collegiate soccer player standing 5-foot-1 and 115 pounds. No one could tell from looking at her that she is the first female Olympic gold Olympic Gold is the official video game of the XXV Olympic Summer Games, hosted by Barcelona, Spain in 1992. It was released for the Sega consoles, Mega Drive/Genesis and Master System, and Sega's handheld, Game Gear. medalist in weightlifting. It's hard for Cunningham to believe, too. She dreamed of being an Olympic champion growing up and trained at the Colorado Springs' Olympic Training Center in gymnastics and soccer, but couldn't make it in either sport. When she went to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, it was not as a competitor, but on staff for the Atlanta Olympic Games Olympic games, premier athletic meeting of ancient Greece, and, in modern times, series of international sports contests. The Olympics of Ancient Greece Although records cannot verify games earlier than 776 B.C. organizing committee. That is where, to keep in shape, she began weightlifting. It wasn't even an Olympic sport for women yet. Four years later, at the Sydney Olympics, Cunningham - then with her maiden name maiden name n. A woman's family name before she is married. Used of a surname that is replaced by a woman when she marries. Also called birth name. Nott - won the first weightlifting gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize for a female when she was elevated from second to first because a Bulgarian lifter was disqualified dis·qual·i·fy tr.v. dis·qual·i·fied, dis·qual·i·fy·ing, dis·qual·i·fies 1. a. To render unqualified or unfit. b. To declare unqualified or ineligible. 2. for failing a drug test. ``I got into the sport by accident,'' said Cunningham, who played Div. I soccer at small Colorado College. ``I didn't even know what the snatch or clean and jerk were. The only exposure I had to competitive weightlifting was seeing some super-heavy Russians on `Wide World of Sports Wide World of Sports can refer to:
Cunningham, who lifts in the lightest weight class, is trying to change that image. She has visited schools to speak of the benefits of weightlifting and the importance of staying drug free. ``Weightlifting is for people of all sizes, shapes, ages and walks of life,'' Cunningham said. ``Hopefully, the public will see someone like me and get excited for what weightlifting is about.'' Cunningham, along with bronze-medalist Cheryl Haworth Cheryl Haworth (born April 18 1983) is an Olympic weightlifter for the United States. Her coaches are Michael Cohen and Henry Myers III. Often called "the strongest woman in the United States," Cheryl Haworth is a competitive weightlifter who emerged in the late 1990s as a , helped establish U.S. women as a weightlifting power. Her gold medal was the first for the U.S. in weightlifting since 1960. They again will be the two U.S. female representatives. The men's group of Shane Hamman, Chad Vaughn and Oscar Chaplin III Oscar Chaplin III (born February 22 1980) is an Olympic weightlifter for the United States. Weightlifting achievements
``I'm going in thinking medal,'' Hamman said. ``I definitely want to be on that stand. The women gave us a little spark last time.'' Cunningham has her gold but doesn't yet feel the magnitude of being the first female Olympic winner in her sport. The medal just sits in a drawer. ``I don't really think of myself as a gold medalist,'' Cunningham said. ``I'm sure it will sink in 20 years from now when I'm watching the Olympics with my kids and I tell them that Mom was there, and she actually won a medal.'' Matthew Kredell, (818) 713-3607 matthew.kredell(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: WEIGHTLIFTING |
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