Fueled By Coffee, Hampton Morris Hopes To Lift His Way To Paris

Hampton Morris poses on the podium during the Pan American Weightlifting Championships in Bariloche, Argentina.

Weightlifter Hampton Morris is making himself a contender for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, one gold medal and one cup of coffee at a time.

First, the gold. Morris, 19, is coming off a win in his 61 kg. weight class at the Pan American Weightlifting Championships, held March 25-April 2 in Bariloche, Argentina. It was his third straight victory at the event.

The win in Bariloche was doubly important because the event was the first qualifier of the year for next summer’s Olympics. A maximum of three men and three women will comprise Team USA’s weightlifting squad in Paris, and athletes must compete in at least five of seven qualifying events.

Morris is well on his way, but he’s not letting the prospect consume him.

“I’m definitely trying not to think about it too much,” the Georgia native says. “That would be a lot of pressure. Taking things step-by-step is best, I’ve found. I mean, if something bad happens — you miss a lift, or you have a bad training session — it’s important to focus on the next thing. Try to deal with whatever (happens) and move on.”

That’s the kind of commonsense thinking Hampton’s dad, Tripp Morris, has instilled in the Pope High School graduate ever since Hampton began his weightlifting career in earnest seven or so years ago.

Tripp, a college soccer player, had hoped his son might follow in his footsteps on the pitch, but Hampton had other plans. He enjoyed playing in recreational soccer leagues but was more interested in watching his dad, now a CrossFit enthusiast, in the gym.

“I’d say he kind of play-acted with me when he was around 9 or 10 years old — he would (mimic) the squat and deadlift and press,” Tripp said. “And he did that for about three years, so we started kind of loading the bar a little bit, and he would do a bit of weight, nothing serious. When he was around 12, he wanted to learn how to actually do weightlifting.”

Hampton entered his first youth nationals in Atlanta in 2017. There, he caught the eye of Pyrros Dimas, a three-time Olympic weightlifting gold medalist for Greece who is now the technical director for USA Weightlifting.

“I ended up sweeping gold,” Hampton said. “(Dimas) actually saw me lifting, and he said to someone to give me the technical medal, which was pretty cool. So that was when I decided to stop soccer altogether and just focus on weightlifting.”

His progress was swift: a silver medal at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games in Bogota, Colombia, and gold at the 2022 junior world championships in Greece, where he set a junior world record in the clean and jerk (160 kg). He placed 15th in his category at the 2022 world championships in Bogota.

“Moving from junior to senior events felt pretty natural, because you can compete as a senior, even if you’re still a junior (ages 15-20), which is what I did,” Hampton said. “I’m still doing that, so it didn’t feel like there was ever a major step up.”

Hampton’s most recent event was his most difficult. USA Weightlifting’s director of communications and content, Brandon Penny, was scheduled to accompany the athletes to Argentina, but passed away shortly before the team departed. Just 32 years old, Penny began his career with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee in 2010 as an intern and served as the USOPC’s manager of content development and digital media, and later managing editor, from 2012-2018, prior to joining USA Weightlifting several years ago.

Penny had forged a close relationship with Morris, meeting with the young athlete several times to deliver tips for navigating social media and responding to reporter questions.

“I think sometimes people lose sight that sport is supposed to be fun, and Brandon had a very hard job keeping it fun for the athletes, but he never showed that stress,” Tripp said. “I see things on Instagram and Reddit that are just so ridiculous to me. (Hampton) is young and still learning, and Brandon was very, very generous with his time, and helped quite a lot.”

Hampton Morris competes at the Pan American Weightlifting Championships in Bariloche, Argentina.

After the athletes received the news of Penny’s death, Hampton and Tripp wanted to come up with a way to honor him, while still staying focused during the competition. They proposed that wrestlers write the symbol “1c” — as in, one cent — on themselves in tribute, and Hampton and several of his teammates took to the streets of Bariloche to find sharpies.

“(Many) stores were closed, so it took the entire day,” Hampton said.

Penny’s memory may have helped motivate Team USA. With a haul of 45 medals, including 20 gold, it finished atop the medal table. Hampton swept gold in his category, with a snatch of 123 kg. and clean & jerk of 158 kg., for a 281 kg. total.

For his next event, Morris is eying the grand prix in Havana, Cuba, in June, which would also count as an Olympic qualifier.

“We’re prioritizing the qualifying events, and all of those are senior,” Hampton said. “I might still go to world juniors in Mexico this fall, though. Mexico is pretty easy to get to in a couple of hours. We’ll make that decision when it gets closer.”

And that brings us back to coffee. Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Columbia, Ecuador — coffee plays a huge role in the everyday lives of the people living in the countries hosting many weightlifting events, and Hampton studies and samples local brews whenever he can.

“What really got me into learning about the coffee cultures of each country was this athlete experience they put on in the hotel at the 2021 youth worlds in Saudi Arabia,” Hampton said. “They grind the beans by hand, with a mortar and pestle, and then they put (the coffee) into a cup on a stick (a Turkish coffee cup). It’s made of metal (hammered copper), and submerged into really, really hot water to brew the coffee. It’s this really big show of community.”

Morris’ interest grew into a serious pastime, and he now owns five different coffee makers, ranging from a French press to a Nespresso machine.

“My newest one is a kind of a novelty, it’s a Vietnamese coffee (brewer) called a Phin,” he said.

The beverage plays a role in his daily training and competition readiness.

“I do try to stop drinking caffeine by 2 p.m. on competition days, but on heavy workout days, I’ll have three or four shots of espresso. It’s like a pre-workout.”

When they moved to Marietta a few years ago, his family converted their three-car garage into a gym.

Friends — weightlifters and non-weightlifters alike — pitched in to help build platforms and install equipment in the 600 square foot space. Hampton also visits a local gym every Saturday: “It’s a really great community, very good energy for heavy lifting.”

He uses visualization techniques.

“It helps a lot,” he said. “I also listen to music, mainly alternative and classic rock, but I like a little bit of everything.” To relax, he often reads snatches of a novel between sets.

Athletics runs in his family.

Hampton forsook soccer for weightlifting, but his 15-year-old sister Etta is already catching the eye of college coaches. His mom, Anne Marie, coaches CrossFit.

He’s learning Spanish and Greek.

“I’ve been studying Spanish for five or six years, and use it anytime I can,” he said. For six months before the 2022 junior worlds in Heraklion, Greece, he studied Greek as a surprise to his mentor, Pyrros Dimas.